Market ResearchGathering Information AboutCommercial Products and Services

SD-5

DEFENSE STANDARDIZATION PROGRAM

JANUARY 2008

C o n t e n t sForeword 1

Background 2What Is Market Research? 2Why Do Market Research? 2When Is Market Research Done? 5Who Should Be Involved In Market Research? 7

Technical Specialist 8User 9Logistics Specialist 9Testing Specialist 9Cost Analyst 10Legal Counsel 10Contracting Officer 10

Guiding Principles 11Start Early 11Define and DocumentRequirements 11Refine as You Proceed 12Tailor the Investigation 12Repeat as Necessary 12Communicate 12Involve Users 12

The Market ResearchProcess 13Strategic Market Research (Market Surveillance) 14

Identify the Market or MarketSegment of Interest 14Identify Sources of MarketInformation 16Collect Relevant MarketInformation 17Document the Results 18

Tactical Market Research (Market Investigation) 19

Summarize Strategic MarketResearch 19Formulate Requirements 20Identify Sources ofInformation 21Collect Product or ServiceInformation from Sources 22Collect Information fromProduct or Service Users 26Evaluate the Data 27Document the Results 30

Other Considerations 32Amount of Informationto Gather 32Procurement Integrity Act 32Paperwork Reduction Act 33Cost of Market Research 34

Other Informationon Market Research 35

Appendix A 36Types of Information Available on the Internet

Appendix B 39Web-Based Information Sources

Appendix C 47Examples of TacticalInformation

F o r e w o r dThe Department of Defense (DoD) relies extensively on the commercial market

for the products and services it needs, whether those products and services are

purely commercial, modified for DoD use from commercial products and services,

or designed specifically for DoD. DoD acquisition professionals must develop the

knowledge and understanding of the industries and sectors that make up the global

market for the products or services they support. Market research is conducted to

determine the availability of commercial products and services, to identify market

practices, and to become aware of the latest developments in products and services.

This document, an update of the SD-5 published in July 1997, contains practical

information on market research leading to the acquisition of commercial products

and commercial services.A key change in the 10 years since the SD-5 was last pub-

lished is that the Internet has become the primary means for conducting market

research.

Although this document emphasizes commercial products and services, the same

market research techniques can be used when acquiring noncommercial products

and services. In those cases, market research can help define requirements, identify

alternatives, and monitor the industry for any new developments that may affect

DoD.

The document is approved for public release. Electronic copies are available from

the Acquisition Streamlining and Standardization Information System (ASSIST) at

http://www.assistdocs.com or from the Defense Standardization Program Office

website at http://www.dsp.dla.mil.

Gregory E. SaundersDirector

Defense Standardization Program Office

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Background

The purpose of this document is to provide DoD and other Federal personnel involved in theacquisition process with practical guidance on using market research to ensure the acquisitionof products and services that will best serve the government’s needs. Specifically, this documentis designed for personnel involved with establishing requirements for products or services, suchas engineers, technical specialists, project officers, and customers; personnel involved with pur-chasing products or services, such as contracting officers, contract specialists, and cost analysts;and personnel who support the acquisition process, such as logisticians, testing and quality as-surance specialists, and legal counsel.

What Is Market Research?Market research, as defined in Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Part 2, Definitions, is theprocess of collecting and analyzing information about capabilities within the market to satisfyagency needs.To elaborate, market research is a continuous process of gathering data on busi-ness and industry trends, characteristics of products and services, suppliers’ capabilities, and relat-ed business practices.The data resulting from market research are analyzed and used to makeinformed decisions about whether DoD’s needs can be met by commercial products or servic-es.When making such decisions, several factors are considered:

n Degree to which commercial practices allow the products or services to be customized ortailored to meet DoD needs

n Terms and conditions, such as warranties, discounts, and customer support, under whichcommercial sales are made

n Ability of potential suppliers’ distribution and logistics support systems to meet DoD’sneeds.

Market research information can be used to shape the acquisition strategy; to determine thetype and content of the product description or statement of work; and to develop the supportstrategy, the terms and conditions included in the contract, and the evaluation factors used forsource selection.

Why Do Market Research?Federal procurement law and regulations require market research under certain circumstances.

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Federal statutes found in the United States Code (U.S.C.)—41 U.S.C. 253a(a)(1), 41 U.S.C.264b, 10 U.S.C. 2377, and 15 U.S.C. 644(e)(2)(A)—and implemented by FAR Part 10, MarketResearch, require agencies to conduct market research under the following circumstances:

n Before developing new requirements documents for an acquisition

n Before soliciting offers for acquisitions with an estimated value in excess of the simplifiedacquisition threshold

n Before soliciting offers for acquisitions with an estimated value less than the simplifiedacquisition threshold when adequate information is not available and the circumstancesjustify its cost

n Before soliciting offers for acquisitions that could lead to a bundled contract

n On an ongoing basis, and to take advantage to the maximum extent practicable of com-mercially available market research methods, to identify the capabilities, including thecapabilities of small businesses and new entrants into Federal contracting, that are availablein the marketplace for meeting agency requirements in furtherance of a contingencyoperation or defense against or recovery from a nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiologi-cal attack.

In addition, FAR Part 12,Acquisition of Commercial Items, requires that market research beconducted to determine the availability of commercial items or nondevelopmental items thatcould meet the requirements.This regulatory guidance implements the Federal Government’spreference for the acquisition of commercial items contained in Title VIII of the Federal Acqui-sition Streamlining Act of 1994 (Public Law 103-355).

The above requirements apply to all Federal agencies. For DoD, the Defense FederalAcquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS), Subpart 210.001, adds two additional circum-stances under which market research is required:

n Before soliciting offers for acquisitions that could lead to a consolidation of contractrequirements as defined in DFARS Subpart 207.170-2

n Before issuing a solicitation with tiered evaluation of offers (Section 816 of Public Law 109-163)

Even if market research was not required by law and regulation, it would be a smart businesspractice to follow. Market research is a commercial business practice, used by firms to identifytrends, customer needs and wants, competitor practices, and sources for their purchasing needs.

Market research plays a key role in the requirements determination and definition process.

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For example, when planning the acquisition of a new information technology (IT) system,DoD acquisition personnel receive the user’s requirements for the system’s performance, andsometimes the requirements are incompatible with each other or conflict with other systems.Through trade studies, market research can help users sort out what requirements can be ful-filled, what requirements can be fulfilled within cost objectives, and what requirements can befulfilled given schedule constraints. By addressing all of these issues, market research allows theuser to make informed decisions about the tradeoffs among all of the alternatives. Users whofail to consider these issues when defining the requirements risk investing in a system that mayencounter technical difficulties during manufacturing or operation, have long production lead-times, and be excessively costly to produce, operate, and support.

DoD personnel involved in the acquisition process also need to use market research to opti-mize the potential use of commercial items, commercial services, and nondevelopmental itemsto meet agency needs. DoD no longer relies extensively on government-unique products andservices to meet its needs. Commercial products and services are increasingly the preferredchoice when DoD (and the Federal Government in general) makes purchase decisions.This re-liance on commercial products and services is due not only to the acquisition regulations,which encourage the use of commercial products and services, but also to business reengineer-ing and outsourcing. DoD is focused on its core mission, national defense, with many support-ing functions being handled by commercial firms.

In the service arena, many tasks that were once performed by DoD civilian or military per-sonnel, such as maintenance and repair, logistics, and management support, are now performedby commercial contractors. In fact, the Federal Government, including DoD, awards more con-tract dollars each year for services than it does for products. Market research is essential fordefining service requirements and learning about the capabilities of commercial firms to pro-vide these services.

For many products, DoD research and development (R&D) no longer leads the commercialmarket.With the rapid technical advances occurring in the commercial marketplace, it is vitalfor DoD to understand those markets, identify the sources, and insert those technologies intoweapons systems. In a global marketplace where all nations have access to the same technology,the military advantage will belong to those who can identify and capture state-of-the-art tech-nology, get it into weapons systems, and successfully field those systems first. Using commercialproducts in weapons systems will also lower acquisition costs and shorten development time.Market research plays a critical role in identifying commercial products and sources.

In today’s dynamic acquisition environment, in which use of commercial products and serv-ices is increasingly important and necessary, market research is a process used for doing the fol-lowing:

n Understanding commercial markets, competitive forces, and potential sources

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n Finding solutions that satisfy agency requirements

n Identifying opportunities for using commercial items or services to meet agency needs

n Determining whether commercial products or services can be modified or adapted tomeet the special needs of an agency

n Determining the availability of other nondevelopmental items to meet agency require-ments (see SD-2, Buying Commercial and Nondevelopmental Items:A Handbook)

n Understanding product cycles and the way new technology is introduced into commercialproducts

n Developing product descriptions, statements of work, and statements of objectives thatallow companies to offer their commercial products and services in consonance withcommercial practices

n Shaping acquisition strategies, requirements, and tradeoffs

n Understanding the costs of various alternatives

n Developing support and test plans that accommodate commercial practices

n Determining the extent to which commercial markets can support other FederalGovernment objectives, such as providing opportunities for small and disadvantaged busi-nesses, meeting environmental goals, and using domestic sources

n Crafting solicitation and contract terms, conditions, and evaluation factors that recognizecommercial business practices and encourage competition.

When Is Market Research Done?The answer to this question depends on the type of market research, as well as the type andcomplexity of the acquisition. Market research can be broken down into two interrelated, butdistinct, types: strategic market research (market surveillance) and tactical market research (mar-ket investigation). Strategic market research involves a broad study of the market and sources,whereas tactical market research is focused on answering specific questions about products,services, or capabilities in the market. Both types of market research are discussed in more detaillater in this document.

Strategic market research is conducted continuously throughout the acquisition process. Itmay take place even before an acquisition program exists and continue after it ends. Strategicmarket research enables acquisition, engineering, project management, and other personnel tostay informed about overall market developments, trends, and capabilities. During strategic mar-ket research, any identified users’ requirements need to be kept in mind.

Tactical market research is conducted at specific points during the acquisition process, whichwill vary with the scope and complexity of the acquisition.Tactical market research is designed

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to provide in-depth information to answer specific questions about the capabilities, products, orservices available in the market.These questions are derived from the requirements definition.Users’ requirements need to be continually considered when doing tactical market research.

In large, complex weapons systems covered by the Integrated Defense Acquisition,Technolo-gy, and Logistics Life-Cycle Process, market research is done throughout the acquisition process,beginning with the initial capabilities document developed during the concept developmentphase. In early phases, both strategic and tactical market research can be used to shape the ac-quisition process.The information gleaned from market research will affect the acquisition strat-egy, requirements definition, support and test plans, product description, statement of work,evaluation factors, and contract terms and conditions. Early market research is particularly sig-nificant because it could have a major effect on how the program unfolds.

Done early in the acquisition process—before the capabilities development document is vali-dated at Milestone B, for example1—market research makes it possible to compare the users’ re-quirements to the capabilities of the commercial market and to determine the following:

n Availability of products to meet the requirements as is

n Ability of suppliers to modify their products to meet the users’ requirements

n Flexibility of the users to modify their requirements to allow the purchase of commercialitems, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items.

Such market research can be effective only with the understanding that comes from goodup-front requirements definition.

Tactical market research must be conducted again later in the acquisition process to identifythe correct set of performance characteristics for the product or service description (systemspecification, commercial item description, statement of work, or statement of objectives), theappropriate solicitation and contract terms and conditions, and the commercial practices affect-ing the support strategy and the acquisition strategy in general.

Figure 1 illustrates the use of strategic and tactical market research during a major weaponssystem acquisition. Strategic market research is a market monitoring process occurring continu-ously throughout the acquisition process.Tactical market research occurs periodically as neededto find specific solutions. (The figure shows tactical research as one distinct market research in-vestigation occurring in each acquisition phase, but, in reality, multiple targeted investigationsmay be needed within a single acquisition phase.)

For system acquisitions, market research is iterative. If the initial market research leads to theconclusion that no existing system can meet the need, market research will be needed to iden-

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1For detailed information on the Defense Acquisition System and milestones, visit the Defense Acquisition Policy Center at http://akss.dau.mil/dapc/index.html.

tify commercial and nondevelopmental items that can be integrated as subsystems, components,and support equipment even though the overall system is military unique. Both FAR Part 12and DoD Instruction 5000.2,“Operations of the Defense Acquisition System,” instruct programmanagers and contracting officers to require contractors to incorporate commercial items ornondevelopmental items as components of systems developed for DoD.

During a major system acquisition, there will be many opportunities for market research to in-fluence outcomes.As the system progresses from the concept refinement phase through the oper-ations and support phase, many questions will need to be answered through market research.Also,acquisition of support services—R&D, engineering, test and evaluation (T&E), logistics and sup-port, and training, to name a few—will require market research. Figure 2 illustrates this concept.

At the other end of the spectrum from major system acquisitions are the multitude of lower-dollar-value, standalone contracts for products and services.These might be for new products orservices or for procurement of products or services furnished previously. For these acquisitions,strategic and tactical market research may be combined into a single effort that takes place be-fore a solicitation is issued.The scope and effort of this market research will vary depending onthe size and complexity of the acquisition, but in any event, the goal of market research remainsthe same: understand the commercial market and use commercial products, services, and prac-tices to the maximum extent possible in order to gain the best value for the government.

Who Should Be Involved in Market Research?The military services and defense agencies do not have a specific group of people called “mar-ket researchers”; instead, a wide range of people are called upon to perform market research re-lated to their area of expertise.Your participation may vary, depending on your organization andthe types of products or services for which you are responsible. On large and complex acquisi-tions, a team effort is usually the best approach, because many functional areas may need infor-

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Figure 1. Market Research and the Acquisition Process

Strategic Market Research (Market Surveillance)

Tactical Market Research (Market Investigations)

Concept Refinement Technology Development

System Developmentand Demonstration

Production andDeployment

Operations and Support

mation gathered during market research. Conversely, on small, low-dollar acquisitions, only oneperson may be involved in market research.

Consider the factors that will affect the success of the entire acquisition when you identifywho must have input to the market investigation.What information is needed to make the de-cision to buy from the commercial market? To prepare the product or service description, youneed to know the performance characteristics upon which products and services are valued anddistinguished from one another. If a product needs follow-on support, such as spare parts andrepair, you will need to know the characteristics of the follow-on support system. Is third-partytesting used? What business practices are standard? What practices are standard for the insertionof new technology? The market research process lends itself to a team effort because of themany aspects that may be involved.The team may be composed of the following specialists asappropriate.

Technical Specialist

Depending on the stage of the acquisition and the type of acquisition, this person may be theprogram manager, the technical specialist, or the project officer.

The program manager defines and executes the acquisition strategy. He or she may join amarket research team in the early stages of the acquisition, as the materiel developer representa-tive, to better understand the analysis of alternatives and other market factors affecting the ac-quisition.

The technical specialist or project officer has overall responsibility for market research afterconcept development.That individual may translate the requirement into a product description

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Figure 2. Market Research Opportunities

Products Services

Weapon system

Subsystems

Components

Parts

R&D

Engineering

Design

Test and Evaluation

Training

Technical Services

Maintenance

Repair

Logistics and Support

(commercial item description, statement of work, or specification).The technical specialist’s baseof knowledge of the product and industry ensures that the product or service meets the identi-fied need. Because he or she identifies the potential tradeoffs and product modifications that theusers and the potential suppliers will consider, the technical specialist must be extremely con-scious of the cost-quality tradeoff.

User

The user—the customer—must be satisfied with the product’s performance or the service pro-vided.The user has four roles:

n Make the requirements as clear and precise as possible during requirements definition

n Evaluate whether the potential product can operate in the environment in which it mustfunction (or whether the proposed service will satisfy the needs)

n Refine the requirement and consider tradeoffs to allow for the purchase of commercialitems, commercial services, or nondevelopmental items

n Be actively involved throughout the market research process.

Market research is also important to the user during the preparation of initial capabilities andcapabilities development documents. Market research allows the user community, in conjunc-tion with the technical community, to identify acceptable risk or leading-edge technologies forsystems to provide “leap-ahead” capabilities.

Logistics Specialist

The team may need a member who is experienced in support issues such as spare parts, main-tenance, and warranties for the potential commercial product or service. Initiatives such as Con-tractor Logistics Support and Performance-Based Logistics are transferring many logisticsfunctions to contractors. Market research may be required to address various aspects of procure-ments related to such initiatives.The logistics specialist can identify the information that needsto come from the market investigation on the existing support system and the support-relatedaspects of the product or service.

Testing Specialist

In a commercial item acquisition, the emphasis is on T&E and past performance, rather than onR&D.The testing specialist can use market research to obtain insight into the validity and rele-vance of outside testing results and to help specify the information that will be needed to ad-dress the criteria defined for operational testing.The testing specialist can also use marketresearch to identify commercial entities that are capable of performing T&E services, as well asorganizations that can accredit other quality assurance organizations. In addition, the specialistcan evaluate whether a potential product can operate in the required environment.

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Cost Analyst

The cost analyst can use market research to review and compare the affordability aspects of var-ious alternative solutions to meeting a DoD requirement.The cost analyst may perform marketresearch on cost or price factors in order to assist the contracting officer with evaluating offers.

Legal Counsel

Legal counsel can perform market research to determine whether commercial business practices(such as the Uniform Commercial Code) conflict with Federal Government contract laws andregulations. Counsel may also be called on to investigate trade-related issues, export practices,patents and intellectual property rights, corporate ownership and merger issues, labor practices,and other legal developments in the market that may affect the acquisition.

Contracting Officer

The contracting officer can use market research to identify information on market conditions,general business practices, company information, pricing, and the contract terms and conditionsneeded to successfully carry out the acquisition. For many smaller acquisitions, the contractingofficer may be the only one who performs both the strategic and tactical market research.

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Guiding Pr inc ip les

From the preceding discussion, it should be apparent that market research applies to a wide va-riety of products and services across the Federal Government and to both highly complex sys-tems acquisitions and routine purchases.There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach; marketresearch must be adapted to fit the circumstances. Here, we present some guiding principles tokeep in mind when designing a market research effort.These principles apply to most marketresearch efforts regardless of size, scope, or complexity.

Start EarlyBegin market research early, while the requirement is still flexible. In a major systems acquisi-tion, begin market research prior to Milestone A, while the functional needs are being definedand in support of the initial capabilities document.Additional research will be performed laterto identify subsystems or components during the design of development programs and to getmore specific details about technical characteristics and market practices. On smaller, routineacquisitions, begin market research during the presolicitation phase when requirements are be-ing developed and refined. Starting early helps to ensure that the user defines and documentsthe requirements appropriately.

If you are a technical specialist, a project officer, or another individual responsible for a prod-uct or service area, you will need to keep current with the latest developments in the market.You should consider market research to be a continuous process, occurring whether or not anacquisition program exists.

Define and Document RequirementsEarly market research results are invaluable when negotiating reasonable requirements with theuser. Market research information can help the user understand technological limitations andcommercial practices. Documenting the range of alternatives will help the user define a set ofrequirements that will both meet the need while being technically feasible to produce underthe constraints of time and budget.

Refine as You ProceedThe research should always proceed from the general to the specific. Start at the strategic levelby examining the overall market, then move to the tactical level by using the informationgained at the strategic level to focus your efforts.Acquire a little bit of information on manycompanies, and the products or services they offer, and a lot of information on the few prod-

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ucts or services that seem likely to meet the requirement.The market research should be struc-tured to acquire only enough information to decide whether to proceed to a more detailed ex-amination of commercial possibilities.

Tailor the InvestigationThe amount of time and money spent on market research should be related to factors such asthe value of the acquisition, the complexity of the product or service, the use of the product orservice, and the commercial potential. If market surveillance information tells you there is littlepotential for commercial use, further market research should be minimal. If commercial poten-tial is high, an extensive market investigation may be appropriate.

Repeat as NecessaryThink of market research as an iterative process. Successful market research often requires mul-tiple efforts. Market research is first used to determine the availability of commercial capabili-ties, practices, products, and services to meet the general requirement. It must also be conductedlater to identify commercial components available for incorporation into systems developed forDoD and to get more specific, detailed information to make various acquisition decisions. Mar-kets are dynamic.What was impossible in the past may now be feasible.

CommunicateGood communication across functional areas and with industry and users is important to thesuccess of a market investigation. For this reason, an extensive market investigation may workbest as a team effort. Linking the team members’ experience and areas of expertise with the in-formation gathered will guarantee more balanced, best-value decisions. In communicating withindustry, broaden your efforts to include forums that are typically used by the market, not justthe ones traditionally used by the Federal Government.

Involve UsersRemember to involve users (the customers) in the market research process, not merely indefining the requirement. Users can be active participants in the market research for someproducts and services or testers for others.Try to involve users formally in working groups, butalso maintain informal lines of communication between them and the market analysts. Users inthe field may have access to new technology and new product information that needs to beconveyed to those who define requirements. Users also play a major role in identifying prob-lems with the current equipment or service. Users establish what they need and want from aproduct or service. Market research can let users know whether their needs and wants are feasi-ble or affordable.With this knowledge, users can make tradeoff decisions and refine their re-quirements.

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The Market Research Process

Market research can be viewed as consisting of two parts or phases: strategic market research,also called market surveillance, and tactical market research, also called market investigation.Thedelineation between where strategic market research ends and tactical market research begins isnot clear-cut. Generally, however, strategic market research is an ongoing process that focuseson finding information about the broad market. It can be done independently of any specificacquisition requirement, as well as in conjunction with one. Keeping current with the latest de-velopments in the market is one example of strategic market research.

The information gained from strategic market research can be used to focus the efforts oftactical market research.Tactical market research is conducted in response to a particular needor acquisition and is designed to answer specific questions. It is more focused and in-depth thanstrategic market research.The scope will vary based on factors such as the market, the size andcomplexity of the acquisition, and the type of information sought. Figure 3 illustrates this concept.

For most market researchers, the Internet is the preeminent source of information.Throughthe Internet, you can research a vast topic relatively quickly. Internet searches provide leads toexplore.And the sources uncovered are, for the most part, current. Moreover, much of the in-

Figure 3. Market Research Overview

Strategic Market Research (Market Surveillance)

Tactical Market Research (Market Investigation)

Commercial productor service?

Modified commercialproduct or service?

Modified requirement?

Noncommercial product or service?

Acquisition Strategy, Product Description/Statements of Work, Terms and Conditions, etc.

formation on the Internet is free. However, some resources require subscriptions, per-usecharges, or other fees; costs vary with the type of information provided, the number of services(resources) used, and the number of users in your group or office.Appendix A lists some of thetypes of information available on the Internet; some types are useful for strategic market re-search, some for tactical market research, and some for both.Appendix B lists some of the manysources of market research information available through the Internet; the list might help younarrow your market investigations to those that come closest to meeting your requirements.

Ultimately, the goal of both strategic and tactical market research is to provide acquisitionpersonnel with enough knowledge about the market to make good decisions. Market researchwill have a significant impact on the acquisition strategy, the requirements, and the businessprocesses needed to successfully contract for the desired product or service. Below, we addressthe specific steps required for both types of research.

Strategic Market Research (Market Surveillance)Strategic market research involves activities that result in a broad understanding of markets,technologies, business developments, and the products or services of interest. Strategic marketresearch is an ongoing process and is usually not focused on a single acquisition.The goal ofstrategic market research is to develop a base of knowledge about the market area of interestand its products or services.This base of knowledge can then be applied to one or more acqui-sitions to help focus the more detailed tactical market research.

Strategic market research helps you to stay abreast of the latest developments in the marketarea of interest, including the latest technologies, business trends, products, services, and businesspractices. By conducting strategic market research regularly, you will be better positioned to as-sess the capabilities of the market to provide the desired products or services.This knowledge isinvaluable when developing the initial acquisition strategy, well before actual requirements arein place. Decisions made early in the acquisition process will shape all that follows, so conduct-ing strategic market research is critical to the success of an acquisition program.

Strategic market research has four major steps, summarized in Figure 4. Each of the steps isdiscussed below.

Identify the Market or Market Segment of Interest

The first step in conducting strategic market research is to identify the market or market seg-ment of interest and to scope out the task.Answering the following questions will help get youstarted.

Are you interested in a product or a service? At the strategic level, the research that you dowill be similar regardless of whether a product or a service is involved. However, you will needto tailor the research somewhat. For example, when looking at product markets, you will want

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to investigate factors such as technologies, manufacturing and production processes, and logis-tics. For services, you will need to investigate the performance requirements that affect quality,labor factors such as availability and required skills, and the approach to delivering the service.

What are the requirements? At the early stages in an acquisition program, the requirementsmay not yet be defined. In that case, you will need to take a much broader look at the marketin order to identify alternatives. On the other hand, if you know the requirement will involveonly reciprocating pumps, then you can limit your efforts to that market segment.

Who are the participants in the market? Who are the sellers? Who are the buyers? Is theFederal Government currently a buyer? Are there dealers or distributors? Do industry or tradeassociations play a role? Do other markets affect or have a relationship with the market of inter-est, such as suppliers and transportation? Are there any consortia? Do nonprofit or educational

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Figure 4. The Four Steps of Strategic Market Research

Identify the Market

Identify Sources of Information

Collect Information

Document Results

l Product or service?l What are the requirements?l Who are the users?l Who are the suppliers?l Are there related

products and services?l Economic datal Associationsl Standardsl Journals and publicationsl Requests for informationl News medial Conferencesl Trade showsl Web searches

l Determine information desired

l Devise filing schemel Conduct researchl Extract key information

from sources l Devise format for reportingresults

l Discuss findings with teammembers

l Prepare report of strategicmarket research results

l Communicate with othersas needed

Examples of Strategic InformationNumber of suppliers in the market and market shareName, size, and annual sales of potential suppliersAvailability of commercial itemsWillingness of suppliers to modify commercial items to meet requirementsPast government work by potential suppliersOther government agencies that are buying the same product or serviceExistence of market research done by those other government agenciesCommercial business practices, terms, and conditionsBusiness, legal, trade, political, and other developments affecting the marketExistence of any new developments in the field of interestRelated areas that may affect the field of interest

organizations play a role? Are subcontractors used? Has outsourcing of the product or servicetaken place? Do any international organizations, including foreign governments, participate inthe market? Are there lobby organizations? Are standards organizations involved in the market?Are other parts of the Federal Government involved in the market, for example, labor, health,environment, safety, or R&D labs? By answering these questions, you will identify the stake-holders in the market and help define the scope of your strategic market research effort.

Identify Sources of Market Information

Once you have some idea of the market you wish to research, you will need to identify sourcesof information to help answer the questions above. Much of strategic market research can beaccomplished by using the resources available on the Internet. If you’re not sure where to be-gin, searching on the product or service of interest using one of the many web search enginescan lead to many useful links.

If you are very familiar with the product or service to be acquired, you are probably wellprepared to do the market research using the various types of Internet resources. However, ifyour time is limited or you are not very familiar with the product or service, then you mightwant to consider employing a professional research service. For example, Dialog offers a varietyof research solutions. Other search services include LexisNexis and Westlaw.These services gen-erally have access to more information than you can get through an individual search of the In-ternet; however, a search service can be expensive.

In addition to information available on the Internet, you also should consider the followingsources:

n Other government customers. Do other agencies purchase the product or service of interest?These users may be very well informed and an excellent source of information.A generalweb search may uncover links to other government users, but you should also look atcontracting resources such as the Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) websiteand the Federal Procurement Data System–Next Generation (FPDS-NG).You can searchFedBizOpps for current and past requests for proposals (RFPs) and contract awardannouncements in all the product and service areas, and thereby identify any governmentcustomer. FPDS-NG, FedSpending.org, or a commercial subscription service that usesdata from FPDS-NG can provide contract award information, including the awardingoffice, for all products and services that the Federal Government purchases. If you arelooking at research programs, also consider searching the announcements at Grants.gov;although most announcements on Grants.gov will result in a grant as opposed to a con-tract, you may find agencies that are involved in similar research or programs. By usingthese resources, you will be able to identify other government stakeholders in the market,and find others, such as government laboratories, who can share their knowledge of themarket with you.

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n Economic data. A strategic market research study should include a review of basic econom-ic data about the market.The data may include industry sales and trends, number and sizesof the participating firms, and any other industry information that is relevant. Sources toconsider are data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Bureauof Labor Statistics; industry and trade associations reports and publications; purchasingpublications; and news and business publications.

n General market information. Other sources of information about the market include tradeshows and conferences, training programs focused on the market, industry and trade asso-ciations and publications, organizations that establish standards for the market, and thenews media. Personal contacts are another valuable source of information. Site visits tosuppliers of products and discussions with other users can help you get a better feel forthe realities of the industry than you can get by relying solely on media such as advertis-ing brochures.You can also publish a request for information (RFI) in FedBizOpps toseek general information from firms in the market, although an RFI may be more appro-priate once you’ve learned more about the market and have begun your tactical marketresearch.

Collect Relevant Market Information

After you have identified potential sources of information to support your strategic market re-search, you must then decide what information is important enough to collect from thosesources.This is a matter of judgment.Your decision will depend on the market you’re research-ing, the nature of the product or service, and your role in your organization.

A key aspect of collecting strategic market research data is to first develop an organizedstructure for storing or capturing the information so that you can find it quickly.You could useweb bookmarks or favorites, folders and files on a computer or network, hard-copy file foldersor binders, or some combination.Web bookmarks and folders are convenient when the researchis conducted via the web, although web bookmarks can become inactive over time as the un-derlying websites are deleted or revised.You could transfer, cut-and-paste, or enter data ontoforms, documents, or databases that you store on your computer or network; the disadvantagewith this approach is the labor and time to extract and replicate information from the sources.Hard-copy files are useful for organizing material from brochures, magazines, printouts, or otherphysical media.

You will probably use one or more approaches for storing the market research data unlessyou want to invest in the effort to convert the various types of information into a commonstorage environment. For example, if the market you are researching is jet engines, you mightwant to create a structure like the following:

n Jet Engines

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n Technology Development

n Economic Data

n Business News.

Information on the latest engine technology, materials, manufacturing processes, quality, andso on could go under the Technology Development folder. Under the Economic Data folder,you might capture information on industry sales, trends, pricing, and labor. Under the BusinessNews folder, you could capture information on the companies that constitute the market,mergers, spinoffs, outsourcing, trade issues, and legal developments.You could create additionalsubfolders to target specific areas.And because strategic market research should be ongoing, youcould further subdivide the folders to capture the information yearly.The main objective is tocreate an organized system for collecting and storing the results of your strategic market re-search so that the data can be easily pulled together and used as a starting point for in-depthtactical market research.

Document the Results

Having an organized structure for collecting and storing strategic market research data is onlyhalf the battle. Once the information is collected, you should then analyze and document theresults, and you should communicate your results with others as necessary. Because strategicmarket research is ongoing, even when no specific acquisition program is in place, it is easy tooverlook the importance of documenting your findings—and often difficult to find the time todo so. However, documenting your strategic market research findings offers several importantbenefits:

n Good documentation helps team members develop an overall picture of the market.

n If you leave your position, good documentation allows your successor to quickly get up tospeed on the market.

n When important developments occur in the market, good documentation allows the find-ings to be communicated with other stakeholders.

n When a new acquisition is contemplated, good documentation of strategic marketresearch saves time and resources and helps focus the efforts of tactical market research.

There are no mandatory formats or requirements for documenting the results of strategicmarket research. Strategic market research being conducted as part of an acquisition should bedocumented in accordance with the agency or program requirements. For ongoing strategicmarket research, documenting the findings at least annually is recommended.The followingheadings represent a suggested starting point for documenting your findings:

n Time period covered

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n Market research team members or individual who prepared the report

n Companies contacted, questions asked, summary of information provided, test results, andevaluation of products or services

n Market developments, broken out into specific areas if desired (for example, each teammember could have a section related to his or her specific area of research)

n Impact of the findings on the Federal Government

n Recommended actions based on research findings, for example,

l investigate a new manufacturing technology to determine its applicability to govern-ment acquisitions,

l identify production issues that might affect future government needs,

l train government personnel in a new commercial quality assurance process, or

l alert other stakeholders to issues or new developments.

n Actions completed in response to the market research findings.

Commercial markets are often fast paced and evolve rapidly. Using a structured approach tocollect and document strategic market research results will enable DoD to gain the most benefitfrom commercial markets.

Tactical Market Research (Market Investigation)Tactical market research involves activities that result in an in-depth understanding of a market.Tactical market research is conducted during an acquisition process to answer specific questionsabout the market, suppliers, products, services, and so on in order to shape the acquisition strat-egy.Tactical market research builds on the results of ongoing strategic market research, usingthose findings to help identify targets for more in-depth research.

The tactical market research process has seven steps, as shown in Figure 5. Each step is dis-cussed below.

Summarize Strategic Market Research

Part of the value of strategic market research is that you are better prepared to do an efficienttactical market investigation in the limited time you have when faced with an acquisition.Thefirst part of a market investigation is to review and summarize what you already know fromyour strategic market research. In this part of market investigation, good documentation of yourstrategic market research pays dividends in time and cost savings. Considering your previousfindings, you can now target the tactical market research to answer specific questions and to fillin gaps in information.Also, communicating requirements to industry is integral to conducting

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successful tactical market research. Information must reach industry early to give vendors anopportunity to identify potential commercial products or services. It is important to communi-cate requirements in a manner that industry can easily and fully understand. It is also vital todescribe the operational environment because it may differ from the commercial environment.

Formulate Requirements

Before beginning the detailed look into sources to meet the requirements, you should formu-late and define those requirements in greater detail.The results from early market researchshould be sufficient for acquisition personnel to determine whether the user’s initial conceptand requirements are feasible. Early market research should also point to possible alternatives, ei-ther material or nonmaterial, to meet the user’s need.

Documenting the results from early market research will allow the user and acquisition per-sonnel to discuss the various alternatives, assess risk, make tradeoffs, and negotiate and clearlydefine the requirements upon which the acquisition will be based. Clearly formulating the re-quirements through discussions and negotiations between the user and acquisition personnelwill pay dividends in time and money saved as the acquisition moves from concept refinementthrough production and deployment, as well as in the operations and support phase.

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Figure 5. The Seven Steps of Tactical Market Research

Summarize StrategicMarket Research

Formulate Requirements

l Determine informationto be collected

l Devise data collectiontemplates, databases,interview guides, etc.

l Provide sources withinformation

l Obtain informationfrom sources

l Extract key informa-tion from sources

Identify Sources of Information

Collect Informationfrom Sources

Collect Information from Users Evaluate the Data Document Results

l Review strategicmarket research data

l Conduct additionalmarket surveillanceif needed

l Summarize strategicmarket researchfindings

l Determine areas fortactical market research

l Define requirementsl Consider results ofmarket research:available products and services, com-mercial practices

l Identify acceptablerisk

l Negotiate needsl Document capabilityrequirements clearlyand precisely

l Government contractors

l Web searches and websites

l Other governmentoffices

l Conferencesl Business publicationsl RFIs and noticesl Associationsl Advertisementsl Company marketing

l Obtain references from product or service suppliers

l Locate other users indepen-dently if possible

l Contact users and obtainfeedback on the productor service

l Capture relevant informationfrom research efforts

l Discuss with team membersand stakeholders

l Compare findings to require-ments

l Follow up with additional research if necessary

l Devise format for reportingresults

l Prepare report of marketresearch findings andrecommendations

l Communicate with othersas needed

Clear and thorough requirements documents, which describe the user’s needs, are essential toa successful tactical market investigation. Only by understanding the requirement can you focusthe tactical market research appropriately. Requirements documents may vary in format de-pending on the size and complexity of the requirement, but must clearly list or describe theuser’s requirements in a structured or formal manner. Once you have reviewed the require-ments documents and have an understanding of the requirement, you can orient your tacticalresearch to target specific types of information.Appendix C contains examples of the types ofinformation you may need to collect.

Identify Sources of Information

If you’ve been conducting strategic market research regularly, you probably know many of thesources for the product or service you’re interested in. If not, you may have to conduct addi-tional research to identify the firms that are potential suppliers. Some markets may have only afew or even just one source for the product or service. Other markets are highly competitive, somany sources may be available.The amount of time and effort you put into identifying sourcesis a judgment call. Consider the value of the acquisition and the potential benefits of locating anew source.

Adding new potential sources to a list of suppliers increases competition, which can lead tobetter products at lower costs for DoD. If this is the first attempt to meet the requirement witha commercial item, more effort may be required to identify as many potential sources as possi-ble.You may need new techniques to reach sources that have not previously dealt with the Fed-eral Government.

The list of sources starts with information obtained during market surveillance. Known sup-pliers and those who have bid on contracts in the past constitute a basic list.You can identifysuch suppliers by searching the contract award data in the Federal Procurement Data System–Next Generation or by using a commercial subscription service that packages FPDS-NG datainto easily searchable databases. For some products and services, the General Services Adminis-tration schedules will identify sources.Announcements of “Sources Sought” or “Request for In-formation” in FedBizOpps often produce a good response; however, the announcement mightbe seen only by firms that have done business with the government in the past.To reach suppli-ers that have not previously bid on government contracts, try advertising on electronic bulletinboards, on the Internet, through trade associations, or in trade publications, which are used bycommercial firms seeking new business.Almost every industry has some established structurefor helping buyers and sellers find one another.Advertise where the commercial buyers do.

Commercial databases can also help generate a list of potential suppliers. Databases coveringcommercial products and suppliers may specialize in one industry or may include productsfrom many industries. Dun and Bradstreet offers subscriptions to a web-based resource calledGlobal Reference Solution, a database of more than 100 million businesses throughout the

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world.ThomasNet is an online resource offering a directory of global industrial suppliers andproduct information. Several database products are based on the information contained in theFederal Catalog System.Those databases relate part numbers and national stock numbers tosources. Similar catalog databases covering commercial products are also available.

Performing basic web searches for the product or service desired is another way to uncovercommercial sources.You may find a great deal of marketing information, catalogs, and basic in-formation about the product or service available from the company’s website.

Finally, consider conferences and trade shows where suppliers have booths to advertise theirproducts or services. Firms may offer the opportunity to see and demonstrate the product orservice, offering valuable insight into their capabilities.

Collect Product or Service Information from Sources

Once you’ve identified potential sources for the types of information you need based on re-quirements, you can begin collecting data about the product or service of interest.The follow-ing are some methods you can use to obtain information:

n Search the supplier’s website and extract relevant data. The website may include catalogs, prod-uct or service descriptions, references, application data, warranty information, businessterms and conditions, and other information that you need.

n Contact a supplier representative by telephone, e-mail, or letter. It is not uncommon to getincomplete or erroneous data from a supplier, so direct dialog with a company representa-tive may help clarify issues.This method has the advantage of a two-way communicationin which you can ask specific questions and get information that might not be availableotherwise.

n Prepare a formal survey or questionnaire and send it to multiple suppliers. Suppliers also can besurveyed by telephone or through a web interface.A formal survey should have an intro-ductory letter explaining the purpose of the survey. Because of statutory limitations ondata collection, you should request only the minimum information needed to answer yourquestions, and you may have to follow up with suppliers who did not respond orresponded with incomplete or ambiguous information.

n Review printed company literature such as sales brochures and catalogs.

n Hold presolicitation conferences to discuss planned requirements with industry members.

n Circulate draft product descriptions, statements of work, and requests for proposals for comment bypotential sources.

n Issue a “Request for Information” or a “Sources Sought” notice in FedBizOpps.

n Conduct government/industry off-site meetings.

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To get the most useful information from potential sources, you should first provide themwith information about the requirement.Table 1 is an example of the type of information youmight want to provide about a requirement for an IT system.Again, you should provide onlythe minimum information necessary to obtain the answers you need.

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General information

Services information

System interface or integration requirements

Maintainability

Communications/computer system interfaces

Logistics support

Operating characteristics for hardware or softwareEnvironmental conditions for useAnticipated use (fixed, airborne, tactically deployable)Description of services desiredPeriod of performanceExpected deliverablesExpected labor categoriesComputer language, speed, throughput, ports, memory, and expansion potentialRadio transmission frequency requirements and allocation statusRules for government use of frequency spectrumHuman factor considerationsSelf-test requirementsLimitations, if any, on organizational-level support equipmentSoftware portability to other communications/computer systemsOperating duty cycle (full time, intermittent)Input power quality (drops, surges, spikes, noise)Essential safety characteristicsReliability, maintainability, and survivabilityNuclear hardening requirementsChemical, biological, and radiological survivabilityElectromagnetic compatibilityPlanned maintenance echelonsMaintainer proficiency levelsSoftware maintenance plansLimitations on evacuation of reparable items (battlefield,underground, rough handling)Maintenance environment (high winds, mud)Supply support, support equipment needs, and limitationsTraining needsTechnical data needsTransportability

Table 1. Example of the Type of Information to Provide to Sources About a Requirement for an IT System

Category Type of information

The techniques used for tactical market research are similar regardless of whether the re-quirement is for a product or a service. However, some differences affect the areas of focus dur-ing the data collection process. Products lend themselves to objective descriptions of theirphysical characteristics, performance data, estimated service life, and other factors.This tendencysimplifies the collection of data about products and can make it easier to compare productsfrom different manufacturers.

Services, on the other hand, require the effort of a contractor to perform a task as opposedto furnishing a product. Services can vary greatly and may be customized for the task required.Consider a simple example of a task to paint the interior of an office. Does the service includerepair of any existing damage to the walls and trim? Will it require priming and sanding? Willone or two coats of paint be required? Should cleanup be addressed in the contract? Are thepaint and other supplies included? Is there a standard for how long the job will take? The de-tails of what is included in the service can make it difficult to compare the services from differ-ent companies.You need to be familiar with the government requirements for the task in orderto describe the needed service to prospective sources and to evaluate the service offerings ofdifferent firms.

In addition to a description of the product or service, you need to consider its quality. Forproducts, quality can usually be described in objective terms based on product test results, toler-ances, materials, and product history. For services, quality is more subjective and can be difficultto ascertain. Past performance is paramount. Service providers may have multiple levels of thesame service, such as basic, standard, and premium.You will need to understand what distin-guishes the various levels of service. Many service sectors are governed by regulatory standardsor have their own standards to which they voluntarily adhere.These standards describe theminimum performance you can expect. So if the standard meets your requirement, you can bereasonably confident that a number of companies can provide the needed services.The standardwill also provide acceptable quality levels, if they exist.An acceptable quality level establishes themaximum allowable error rate or variation from the standard. For example, a standard for main-tenance services may require that a particular maintenance action be completed in 4 hours,with an acceptable quality level of 5 percent.That is, the service may take more than 4 hoursonly 5 percent of the time.This information is important because, unlike products, services canrarely be delivered 100 percent to standard.

To verify the claims of the potential sources, you should request the names of current cus-tomers of the product or service. If the source had previous government contracts for the sameor similar product or service, you should ask for the following information:

n Contract number

n Title and objective of contract

n Contracting agency and point of contact information

24

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n Period of performance

n Value of contract

n Type of contract (fixed price, cost reimbursement)

n Accomplishments of effort (products furnished or services provided).

As you start collecting information from potential sources, you should also be thinking abouthow you are going to capture and organize the information. If you are collecting informationfrom multiple firms, consider setting up a database or spreadsheet with fields to record the keyelements.A database or spreadsheet allows you to sort and filter the data in various ways, whichaids analysis. If the information you are collecting is mainly qualitative or narrative, a table in aword-processing document may be sufficient. If you plan on gathering data via phone conver-sations, an interview guide or template will help ensure that you cover all the areas you intend-ed and will help you to capture the data.Whatever data collection methods you use, a goodsystem for capturing and organizing the data will help you to analyze and document the resultsof your research.

Table 2 compares the market research focus areas for products and services.

Collect Information from Product or Service Users

Following up with the references provided by the product or service sources is the next keystep. Feedback from the actual users of the product or service allows you to assess how well theproduct or service performed in the past and to identify any issues. One approach to collectinginformation from product or service users is to interview them either in person or by phone.In some cases, e-mail correspondence may be sufficient.

Private-sector users are often willing to discuss good and bad features of products or services.DoD experts can question their private-sector counterparts to get additional technical knowl-edge and to make an informed judgment on whether it meets DoD’s need. For example, thelogistics representative on the team could interview maintenance personnel who have experi-ence with the product to determine what their maintenance philosophy is, how much mainte-nance is needed, whether parts are easy to replace, and so on.

Because a source is unlikely to knowingly provide you the names of users that are dissatisfiedwith the product or service, you should also attempt to independently identify users. Informa-tion collected from them may be far more useful for verifying the sources’ claims.

You can also review customer satisfaction data from reliable sources like government databas-es, consumer protection organizations, and user groups. Keep in mind that at this point, the goalis not to select or eliminate any potential sources.That will be done during the acquisitionprocess when offers are evaluated.

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Product data. Product performance and interfacecharacteristics; applicable regulatory, commercial,and de facto standards; open system definitions;product-differentiating factors; cost-driving factors;test results; samples; product literature such asproduct data sheets, independent test reports, andproduct instructions.Supplier capability. Number of suppliers in themarket, production capacity, producer’s capabilityto meet surge and mobilization demands.

Market acceptance data. Annual sales, marketshare, product maturity, returns on warranty, otherdata related to whether the product meets govern-ment needs.Support data. Product support records, experience,and support system; warranties; repair histories;policies and procedures on repair and replace-ment; support of or upgrades to discontinued mod-els; length of time that particular products will beproduced or supported; approach to providing up-grades.Test data. Test results (from the supplier’s or an in-dependent laboratory), regulatory or third-partytesting or certification (for example, Federal Avia-tion Administration or Underwriters Laboratories,Inc.). (Test data can be used to validate suppliers’claims regarding product performance. In some in-stances, test data can eliminate or reduce theneed for further testing.) Business practices. Standard commercial contractterms, conditions, and pricing arrangements forcommercial acquisitions using procedures in FARPart 12; factors affecting how products are sold ordistributed in the market (such as commercial sup-ply chains).

References. Entities using the product. (The refer-ences are used to verify the information submittedby the supplier and to get other users’ views onhow the product performs.)

Service data. Tasks included in the service; servicelevels; acceptable quality levels; use of govern-ment, industry, or company standards; related orancillary services; costs; labor.

Service delivery. Geographic coverage (local, re-gional, national, or international); actual serviceprovider (company employees, subcontractors, orindependent consultants); availability of service (forexample, round-the-clock or business days only).Market acceptance data. Annual sales and growthtrends, market share, number of customers usingthe service.

Customer support. Inclusion of on-site customerservice representatives, dedicated customer repre-sentatives, help lines, availability to meet suddenchanges in customer needs.

Training and certification. Company, industry, state,and national training or certification requirementsfor the personnel performing the service; use ofthe latest business processes or technologies toimprove the service and provide value to the cus-tomer.

Business practices. Standard commercial contractterms, conditions, and pricing arrangements forcommercial acquisitions using procedures in FARPart 12; structure of service contracts such as useof performance-based statements of work, per-formance metrics, performance incentives, andquality assurance plans.References. Entities using the service. (Servicequality is crucial, so checking references of currentservice users is vital to understanding how theservice provider is performing.)

Table 2. Examples of Market Research Focus Areas for Products and Services

Products Services

Another way to verify a source’s claims about a product is to test samples.When it is feasibleto do so, personnel should test the product in the field to determine whether it meets perform-ance claims and operates satisfactorily.The military service or component may wish to rotatethe product through several units to get feedback from a number of people.To verify a source’sclaims about a service, you may be able to visit a user’s facility to see the results of the service.

Evaluate the Data

After you’ve completed the data collection process, you need to evaluate the data to determinewhether the information received is sufficient to determine whether the product or servicemeets the needs of the requirement. It is not uncommon to get incomplete or erroneous datafrom suppliers. In some cases, you may need to contact an applications, field service, or designengineer for clarification of issues.You may also need to appraise the data using market surveil-lance information, analyzing market trends to fill in missing data. For example, you can estimatethe length of a product cycle for a product for which you have no data by analyzing compara-ble products for which data exist.

As a result of your data collection efforts, you may determine that

n a commercial product or service is not feasible,

n commercial products or services meet the need as stated,

n commercial products or services can meet the need if certain requirements are relaxed, or

n commercial products or services could be modified to meet the requirement.

To easily evaluate the data you have gathered about a product or service, you should use atable, database, or spreadsheet. Here, we provide two simple examples.The first is for a product, ahand-held receiver for a global positioning system (GPS); the second is for pest removal service.

Table 3 shows a sample comparison of the characteristics of four GPS hand-held receivers; italso shows the characteristics required by the government. In this example, it’s clear that thecommercial market can meet all of the government’s requirements except for battery life. Fur-ther research may be needed to determine whether it is technologically feasible to meet the re-quirement and what the cost implications are. Perhaps the government user would be willing totrade off this requirement, or perhaps the requirement can be met through other means, such ashaving the user carry an extra set of batteries. In situations such as these, it is very useful to havean individual who is responsible for the operational requirement on the market investigationteam.You may avoid reducing the candidate field or eliminating a commercial solution by relax-ing or deleting the problem requirement if, in the judgment of the user, that is a reasonablething to do.

If the user is unwilling to relax or eliminate a particular requirement, then ask the candidatesabout the feasibility and cost of modifying their product to meet the requirement. Some suppli-

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ers routinely modify their products for their commercial customers.Another possibility is thatthe suppliers will see that the modification would be commercially marketable and be willingto make the modification in anticipation of a return from the commercial market.

These kinds of tradeoff analyses are important tools in establishing a pool of candidatesources that represent the overall best choices. In some cases, it may be economically feasible todevelop techniques that mitigate the risk of using commercial items that do not fully meet therequirement. For example, a commercial alternative may not satisfy a particular reliability re-quirement (e.g., 300 hours mean time between failures). However, a tradeoff analysis mightdemonstrate that other equipment capabilities or performance would compensate for the relia-bility shortfall. Or, if cost savings per unit were sufficient, redundancy or a dispose-and-replacepolicy might compensate for the shortfall.You can use similar analyses to evaluate processes,production methods, and production control procedures. It is usually better to accept or tailorthese processes, methods, and procedures rather than to impose totally new procedures that willdrive up risk and cost.

Modifying a product can increase program risk, because modification of a commercial itemmay result in a partial development effort. Many of the cost, risk, schedule, and supportabilitybenefits of buying a commercial item may be jeopardized as a result of modification.The testand logistics support plans must account for the scope of the modification to ensure success.Evaluate the total effect of modifications, particularly in the area of logistics support. For exam-ple, a supplier may not recognize or support the resulting redesigned product, and DoD mayhave little or no organic support capability for it.

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Governmentrequirement

Supplier A:Product 1

Supplier A:Product 2

Supplier B

Supplier C

Table 3. Sample Comparison of GPS Hand-Held Receivers

Weight Dimensions Battery life Accuracy Item (ounces) (inches) (hours) Display Memory Warranty (meters)

≤8

7.7

6

8

8.2

5.5 H max3 W max2.5 D max

4.5 H2.4 W2.2 D

4.3 H2.5 W1.9 D

4.8 H2.7 W2.5 D

5.2 H3.2 W2.2 D

30

16

25

20

18

Gray scale

Color

Gray scale

Gray scale

Color

24 MB

64 MB

32 MB

16 MB built-in,additional viaSD memorycard64 MB

—

1 year partsand labor

1 year partsand labor

1 year parts; 90 days labor

2 years partsand labor

≤5

≤3

≤5

≤5

≤7

Table 4 shows a sample comparison of five pest removal services; it also shows the character-istics required by the government. In this example, the government did not specify any qualityassurance requirements.The market research showed that firms in this industry adhere to vari-ous standards. Further research into this area will aid the government in establishing quality as-surance requirements for the final requirements that appear in the actual solicitation.

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Table 4. Sample Comparison of Pest Removal Services

Services can be easier to tailor or adapt to the user’s needs than products.Whereas adapting acommercial product might require costly engineering, design, and production changes, adaptinga service might require only a change in a business process. In some cases, the commercial serv-ice may include related tasks that the government customer had not considered. In any event, athorough understanding of both the government’s needs and the supplier’s capabilities are nec-essary in order to develop a good statement of work for the actual solicitation.

As demonstrated by these two examples, you may conclude from your evaluation that acommercial product or service is not feasible; that commercial products or services meet theneed as stated; that commercial products or services can meet the need if certain requirementsin the original statement are relaxed; or that commercial products or services could be modifiedto meet the requirement.

Governmentrequirement

Supplier A

Supplier B

Supplier C

Supplier D

Supplier E

Services Geographic Contract Service Certified QualityItem offered coverage basis availability employees assurance

Insects,mammals

Insects, birds,mammals

Insects, birds,mammals

Insects,mammals

Insects

Insects, birds,mammals

Regional

National

Local

Regional

Local

National

Fixed price

Fixed price; annual contract

Fixed price; annual contract

Time and materials

Fixed price

Various: fixedprice; time andmaterials

Within 48 hours

Within 24 hours

Business hours,5 days a week

24 hours

Within 12 hours

Within 24 hours

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

—

ISO 9001

Industry associationservice standards

Company standards

State govt.standards

Industry associationservice standards

You may also determine that additional steps are needed to properly evaluate the products orservices identified through market research. For example, environmental or conformance testsmay be needed to determine whether the product meets particular aspects of the requirement,or site visits may be needed to determine whether the supplier can provide a consistent productor service.

Document the Results

Documenting the results of the market investigation is a critical aspect of the process. FAR Part10 states that agencies “should document the results of market research in a manner appropriateto the size and complexity of the acquisition.”The results should also be documented in a man-ner appropriate to how they might be used in the future.That is, the type and amount of infor-mation you keep should be based, in part, on how you expect it will be used in the future.

Documentation serves several purposes. First, it provides a historical record of the market re-search effort and provides evidence that proper market research was conducted for the acquisi-tion. Second, other market research teams investigating similar products may use it to get a feelfor what might be available and to get ideas on where to start their investigation.Third, thecontracting office working on the solicitation for your acquisition may use it to further deter-mine appropriate contract terms and conditions.

Early market research must also be documented during development of the technical oppor-tunities and user needs prior to Milestone A and further documented in the capabilities devel-opment document prior to Milestone B. DoD Instruction 5000.2,“Operation of the DefenseAcquisition System,” indicates that market research is a statutory information requirement forboth Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAPs) and Major Automated Information SystemAcquisition Programs (MAIS).This instruction requires the evaluation of requirements based onthe potential of the commercial market to meet the users’ needs.

There is no standard format for documenting your market research results.You should followyour organization’s or program’s guidance for preparing your report.The following are topicsthat you should consider addressing in the report:

n Background for the market research effort

n Time frame in which the market research was conducted

n Team members and other stakeholders involved in the market research

n Description of the requirements

n Estimated time frame or schedule for the requirement

n Summary of strategic market research findings, including trends, competition, recentdevelopments, issues, and so on

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n Summary of the scope of the market research effort, including the questions to whichanswers were sought, the information requested from potential sources, methods used toobtain data, and so on

n Discussion of potential suppliers, including recent government contracts for the same orsimilar product or service

n Discussion of product or service characteristics obtained through data collection, includ-ing any shortfalls in meeting the government requirement

n Discussion of commercial business practices, procedures, terms, and conditions

n Discussion of cost or price factors uncovered during the investigation

n Discussion of quality factors, including such issues as past performance, references, producttesting or evaluation, customer satisfaction, warranties, and quality problems

n Actions taken as a result of the market research

n Recommendations.

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Other Considerat ions

During your market research, you should keep several things in mind.

Amount of Information to GatherThe scope, extent, and documentation of a market investigation depend on such factors as theanticipated dollar value of the product or service, its complexity, its criticality, and the numberof items needed or extent of the service required.The generic market research process de-scribed in this document is sufficiently detailed to apply to complex, high-value products orservices. However, not all parts are necessary for all acquisitions; the process should be tailoredto the specific market information needs of your acquisition and the potential for commercialproducts or services to meet requirements.

In general, you should stop collecting information when you have enough data to make in-formed decisions about the acquisition strategy. Commercial markets are dynamic, complex, andcompetitive. It is not reasonable to expect that you will learn everything about a market. Com-panies are interested in furthering their sales opportunities and will usually cooperate with yourinformation request, but they may not reveal everything due to competitive reasons. Some indi-viduals are comfortable making decisions based on limited information, which poses a risk ofmaking the wrong decision based on insufficient research. Others put off making decisionswhile they await more data, which poses a risk of unnecessarily delaying the acquisition.Atsome point, you will reach diminishing returns during your market research. Sharing your re-sults with team members can help keep the market research effort on track and reasonable.

Procurement Integrity ActDuring your discussions with potential sources, you should be aware of certain restrictions onwhat you may discuss.

The Procurement Integrity Act (41 U.S.C. 423) prohibits personnel “participating personallyand substantially” in a Federal agency procurement from

n soliciting or accepting jobs or business opportunities from competing contractors,

n asking for or receiving things of value ($20 or more) from competing contractors,

n disclosing bidder proposal information to competing contractors, and

n disclosing to competing contractors any source selection information that has not alreadybeen made public.

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Source selection information includes bid prices in response to an invitation for bids; pro-posed costs or prices in response to an RFP; source selection plans; technical evaluation plans;proposal evaluations; competitive range determinations; rankings of bids, proposals, or competi-tors; and source selection panel reports.

Personnel who are “participating personally and substantially” in Federal agency procurement

n prepare or review specifications,

n evaluate bids or proposals,

n select sources,

n conduct negotiations, and

n review and approve contract awards, modifications, or extensions.

Discussions between industry representatives and acquisition personnel that do not lead tothe above prohibited activities are not just allowed, they are encouraged when the purpose is togain a better understanding of the commercial market, including appropriate selection criteria.If you are a participant in a procurement action, remember to adhere to the procurement in-tegrity requirements when conducting market research. Refer to FAR 3.104 for additional de-tails on procurement integrity.

Paperwork Reduction ActThe Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501) is designed to reduce information collectionand paperwork burdens on the general public, including businesses.The act defines “collectionof information” as obtaining, causing to be obtained, soliciting, or requiring the disclosure tothird parties, or the public, of facts or opinions by or for an agency, regardless of form or for-mat, calling for answers to identical questions posed to, or identical reporting or recordkeepingrequirements imposed on, 10 or more people, other than agencies, instrumentalities, or employ-ees of the United States.

If you plan to send a structured survey to, or conduct phone interviews using an identical setof questions with, 10 or more individuals (including businesses), you may be subject to the Pa-perwork Reduction Act. If so, you need to obtain a clearance with the Office of Managementand Budget before proceeding with your survey.

The Paperwork Reduction Act requirements do not apply to unstructured sessions (such asat a conference) when questions are asked of the public or when requests are specifically tai-lored to an individual or business.

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To avoid the Paperwork Reduction Act requirements, you should restrict structured surveysto nine or fewer respondents.

Cost of Market ResearchThe costs of conducting market research range from minimal (using web searches) to substantial(buying and testing product samples, visiting sites). Some costs may be absorbed through invest-ments in continuing education (attending industry or trade conferences), attendance at profes-sional organization meetings, trade publication subscriptions, and so on. Other costs, such asvisiting commercial establishments or obtaining and testing product samples, may seem harderto justify, especially when budgets are tight. However, conducting sound market research is con-siderably less costly than building prototypes, running extensive tests during a full-scale devel-opment, or buying products or services that do not fully meet user needs.

Market research requires some up-front investment in time and cost, but it can pay substan-tial dividends as the acquisition process unfolds from requirements development through deliv-ery and support. For services, too, the cost of a poor decision can be substantial. Inadequateservice delivery may affect mission support, result in inefficient operations, or require the timeand cost to replace the service provider. By investing in market research early in the acquisitionprocess, the likelihood of these problems occurring is greatly reduced.

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Other Informat ion on Market Research

Many tutorials and guides on market research are available on the Internet.They include thefollowing:

n Defense Acquisition University, Continuous Learning Module CLC004,“MarketResearch,” https://learn.dau.mil/html/clc/Clc.jsp.

n Information Research Services,“Condensed Guide to Market Research,”http://www.informars.com/mt/guides/guide.htm.

n Navy Acquisition Reform Office,“Market Research Tutorial,”http://acquisition.navy.mil/aosfiles/tools/marketresearch/index.html.

n National Aeronautics and Space Administration,“Market Research Guide,”http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/procurement/market.html.

n Office of the Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,Technology and Logistics (Acquisition Initiatives),“Commercial Item Handbook,”http://www.acq.osd.mil/dpap/Docs/cihandbooks.pdf.

n Rutgers University Libraries,“Market Research,”http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/research_guides/busi/markres.shtml.

n Defense Standardization Program Office,“Commercial Item Handbook,”http://assist.daps.dla.mil/quicksearch/basic_profile.cfm?ident_number=112025.

n Army Contracting Agency,“Market Research Guide,”http://www.aca.army.mil/docs/Community/aca_mktrsch_gd.doc.

n Air Force Logistics Management Agency,“Market Research/Analysis Guide,”https://akss.dau.mil/Documents/Policy/AFLMAMarketResearchAnalysisGuide.pdf.

n Air Force Materiel Command,“Market Research Process Guide,”https://www.afmc-mil.wpafb.af.mil/HQ-AFMC/PK/pkp/polvault/guides/market_research_guide.doc.

n Air Force Materiel Command,“Market Research Product/Service Template,”https://www.afmc-mil.wpafb.af.mil/HQ-AFMC/PK/pkp/polvault/guides/market_research_template.doc.

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Appendix A. Types of Informat ion Avai lableon the Internet

This appendix identifies some of the types of information available on the Internet. Some typesare useful for strategic market research, some for tactical market research, and some for both.

Product and Service InformationThe following are examples of product and service information available on the Internet:

n Available products and services, and the companies that provide them

n Part manufacturers

n Salient characteristics (shape, size, performance specifications)

n Part identification (such as the national stock number)

n Parts that meet government specifications

n Ordering information

n Procurement histories with unit prices.

Product or service catalogs—or databases—from commercial suppliers are a valuable sourceof information. Government parts databases, although limited to items that the government hasalready bought, are helpful in locating items that fall within the broad definition of nondevel-opmental items—items that are available in the market and do not require additional develop-ment. Cross-referencing within product databases enables you to search for a specific part byusing any known piece of information about that part. Some product databases provide theability to cross-reference between commercial parts and similar government parts.You can alsosearch for products or services that meet a particular set of characteristics.

Another method of locating a particular product or service is to query a Usenet site, such asthose available from Usenet.com.These sites are used by individuals with similar interests thatmay be oriented around a particular product or service (e.g., computers).A Usenet site is simi-lar to a public bulletin board.You can read information, post information and questions, and re-spond to information and questions.You should validate information received from this type ofsite.

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Supplier ListsSupplier lists can be general—surveying a wide field—or specific to a particular category. If aspecific list does not give you the data you need, try e-mailing or calling the parent company toinquire about related lists.

Industry InformationInternet market research can help you identify market capabilities and customary practices of aparticular industry, such as the following:

n Industry-standard terminology

n Product modifications and tailoring

n Distribution and support options

n Representative incentive provisions

n Warranties

n Product obsolescence

n Spares provisions

n Pricing practices

n Methods for ensuring reliability

n Other capabilities of the marketplace.

News and Publications

Almost any recent, publicly available information is likely to be accessible through the Internet.The types of publications that are available through the Internet include newspapers, trade jour-nals, government publications, announcements of new products, press releases, and annual reports released by individual companies. Internet search engines—such as A9,AltaVista,AlltheWeb,Ask, Dogpile, Gigablast, Google, HotBot, Lycos, MetaCrawler, MSN, SearchHippo,WiseNut, and Yahoo (to name a just few)—enable you to locate articles by using keywords,product names, services, or the name of a particular company. Search Engine Guide(searchengineguide.com) offers lengthy lists of hyperlinks to various types of search engines.

Many electronic publications contain either the full text or an abstract of published materialand include bibliographic references. Some electronic publications cover a broad range of busi-ness and economic information across all segments of the economy.These publications can be

37

helpful in assessing the health of particular industries or even past performance of specific com-panies. Others specialize in one kind of information, such as announcements of new productsor services.

Government Contract DataFor contract actions over $3,000, the Federal Procurement Data System–Next Generation(FPDS-NG) has data on government-wide contract information databases.The FPDS-NG in-cludes the following information:

n Contractor names, addresses, and DUNS codes

n Identification of the awarding agency and office

n Federal supply codes and names for the products and services purchased

n Locations of contract performance

n Identification of small or minority owned business awardees

n Contract types, dollar values, and dates

n Competition information.

The FPDS-NG allows searches on the basis of any data field or item of information.Al-though most of the FPDS-NG data come from the government, commercial suppliers of con-tract information databases usually add information or cross-references that expand the use ofthe FPDS-NG data.

Federal Business Opportunities (FedBizOpps) is the single government point of entry forFederal Government procurement opportunities over $25,000. In addition to being the portalthrough which government agencies publicize their business opportunities, FedBizOpps is use-ful for historical information.A search of archived documents yields solicitation and award in-formation, contracting agency points of contact, and supplier contact information.

Past performance information also is available on the Internet.The Past Performance Infor-mation Retrieval System (www.ppirs.gov) is a web-enabled, government-wide application thatprovides timely and pertinent information about the past performance of contractors.The Fed-eral acquisition community can use this information when making source selection decisions.

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This appendix lists some of the many sources of market research information available throughthe Internet.They are arranged alphabetically by category. Each entry includes, where available,the website name, Internet address, postal address, phone number, and e-mail address for a pointof contact.

We do not endorse any of these websites or their products or services; we list them hereonly as examples of the types of websites that might help narrow the scope of your market in-vestigations.

Remember that the Internet changes constantly.Websites are updated regularly, Internet ad-dresses change, and new websites are launched frequently.At the same time, older websitescombine with other sources, or—as products and services change—are removed.We encourageyou to explore Internet resources and find those that will best meet your needs.

Appendix B. Web-Based Informat ion Sources

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Acquisition and Contracting

Acquisition Centralhttp://www.acquisition.gov/Contact form:http://www.acquisition.gov/contact_us.cfm

Consolidated Contracting Initiativehttp://procurement.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/cci/first.cgiContact form: http://procurement.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/feedback/feedback.cgi?application_id=23

D&B Government Serviceshttp://www.dnb.com/us/dnbgov/index.html103 JFK ParkwayShort Hills, NJ 07078800-519-3111Customer service:custserv@dnb.comGovernment affairs:slobodiend@dnb.com

Department of Defense eMallhttp://www.emall.dla.mil877-352-2255dod-emallsupport@dlis.dla.mil

Eagle Eye Publishers, Inc.10560 Main Street, PH18Fairfax,VA 22030-7115703-359-8980http://www.eagleeyeinc.com/

FedBizOppswww.fedbizopps.gov

Federal Procurement Data System–Next Generationhttps://www.fpds.gov/

FedSpending.orghttp://fedspending.org/

Federal Supply Scheduleshttp://www.fss.gsa.gov

General Services Administration Advantagehttps://www.gsaadvantage.gov877-472-3777

GSA Government-Wide Acquisition Contractshttp://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?P=FG1&contentId=16146&contentType=GSA_OVERVIEW

National Customer Service Center 800-488-3111NCSCcustomer.service@gsa.gov

INPUT10790 Parkridge BoulevardSuite 200Reston,VA 20191

888-99-INPUThttp://www.input.com/

Institute for Supply Managementhttp://www.ism.ws/PO Box 22160Tempe,AZ 85285-2160800-888-6276Contact list: http://www.ism.ws/contact/index.cfm

ITEC Directhttp://www.itec-direct.navy.mil/

Javits-Wagner-O’Dayhttp://www.jwod.com/877-GET-JWODcustomercare@jwod.com

Market Research.comhttp://www.marketresearch.com/11200 Rockville Pike, Suite 504Rockville, MD 20852800-298-5699customerservice@marketresearch.com

National Contract Management Associationhttp://www.ncmahq.org/8260 Greensboro Drive, Suite 200McLean,VA 22102800-344-8096memberservices@ncmahq.org

Past Performance Information Retrieval Systemhttp://www.ppirs.gov/603-431-9460, ext. 486webptsmh@navy.mil

Adhesives and Sealants

Adhesives and Sealants.comhttp://www.adhesivesandsealants.com

Adhesive and Sealant Councilhttp://www.ascouncil.org/7979 Old Georgetown RoadSuite 500Bethesda, MD 20814301-986-9700info@ascouncil.org

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Aerospace

Aerospace Industries Associationhttp://www.aia-aerospace.org/1000 Wilson Boulevard

Suite 1700Arlington,VA 22209-3928703-358-1000Contact list: http://www.aia-aerospace.org/contact.cfm

Forecast Internationalhttp://www.forecastinternational.com/22/25 Commerce RoadNewtown, CT 06470 203-426-0800Sales/customer service/marketing:sales@forecast1.com

IHShttp://www.ihs.com/15 Inverness Way EastEnglewood, CO 80112800-525-7052Sales information request page:http://solutions.ihs.com/products/standards/webquote/quoteprocurement.htm

Jane’s Information Grouphttp://www.janes.com/110 N. Royal Street, Suite 200Alexandria,VA 22314800-824 0768Customer service:customerservices.us@janes.com

PartsBasehttp://partsbase.com/Contact list:http://partsbase.com/contactus.asp

Apparel/Fiber/Textiles

American Apparel and Footwear Associationhttp://www.apparelandfootwear.org/1601 N. Kent Street, Suite 1200Arlington,VA 22209800-520-2262Contact list:http://www.apparelandfootwear.org/AboutAAFA/Staff.asp

Apparel Searchhttp://www.apparelsearch.com/

Garment Industry Development Corp.http://www.gidc.org/enter.html 275 7th Avenue, 15th FloorNew York, NY 10001212-366-6160info@gidc.org

International Textile and Apparel Associationhttp://www.itaaonline.org/6060 Sunrise Vista Dr., Suite 1300Citrus Heights, CA 95610916-723-1628info@itaaonline.org

National Textile Associationhttp://www.nationaltextile.org/6 Beacon Street, Suite 1125Boston, MA 02108617-542-8220

Sourcing Mallhttp://www.sourcingmall.com/211 Gregson DriveCary, NC 27511919-380-2156jlovejo@tc2.com

Architect and Engineering

The American Institute of Architectshttp://www.aia.org/1735 New York Ave. NWWashington, DC 20006-5292202-626-7300infocentral@aia.org

The Association of Licensed Architectshttp://www.licensedarchitect.org/PO Box 687Barrington, IL 60011-0687847-382-0630ala@licensedarchitect.org

Automotive

Automotive Industry Action Grouphttp://www.aiag.org/Index.cfm26200 Lahser Rd., Suite 200Southfield, MI 48033-7100248-358-3003info@aiag.org

IHShttp://www.ihs.com/15 Inverness Way EastEnglewood, CO 80112800-525-7052Sales information request page:http://solutions.ihs.com/products/standards/webquote/quoteprocurement.htm

Wards Autohttp://wardsauto.com/248-799-2642wards@wardsauto.com

Aviation

Airliners.Nethttp://www.airliners.net/Contact form:http://www.airliners.net/comments/

GlobalAir.comhttp://www.globalair.com/Global Aviation Navigator, Inc.PO Box 20865Louisville, KY 40250-0865

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888-236-4309webmaster@globalair.com

ILSmarthttp://www.ilsmart.com/901-794-5000Contact form:http://www.ilsmart.com/contact.asp

Internet Parts Locator Systemshttp://www.ipls.com/954-401-5614

PartsBasehttp://partsbase.com/Contact list:http://partsbase.com/contactus.asp

Spec2000http://www.spec2000.com/Air Transport Association of America1301 Pennsylvania Ave. NWSuite 1100Washington, DC 20004-1707800-375-9286Spec2000@airlines.org

Cataloging

Electronic Commerce Code Management Associationhttp://www.eccma.org/new/2980 Linden St., Ste E2Bethlehem, PA 18017610-861-5990info@eccma.org

FedLoghttp://www.dlis.dla.mil/Fedlog/877-352-2255DLIS-Support@dla.mil

Chemical

ChemConnecthttp://www.chemconnect.com2900 North Loop West, Suite 1210Houston,TX 77092713-470-2450

ChemIndustry.comhttp://www.chemindustry.com/730 E. Cypress Ave.Monrovia, CA 91016626-930-0808 info@chemindustry.com

ICIShttp://www.icis.com888-525-3255csc@icis.com

Purchasing.comhttp://www.purchasing.com/Contact list:http://www.purchasing.com/info/28825.html?view=detail

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Construction

Associated Builders andContractorshttp://www.abc.org/4250 N. Fairfax Drive, 9th FloorArlington,VA 22203-1607703-812-2000gotquestions@abc.org

IHShttp://www.ihs.com/15 Inverness Way EastEnglewood, CO 80112800-525-7052Sales information request page:http://solutions.ihs.com/products/standards/webquote/quoteprocurement.htm

Sweets Networkhttp://www.sweets.construction.com/Contact form: http://www.construction.com/ContactUs/ContactUs.asp?rd=http://products.construction.com/portal/server.pt

Data Management

Association for Configuration and Data Managementhttp://www.acdm.org/PO Box 58888 Salt Lake City, Utah 84158-0888Contact link:http://www.acdm.org/feedback.php

Data Management Associationhttp://www.dama.orgPO Box 5786Bellevue,WA 98006-5786425-562-2636Contact list:http://www.dama.org/public/pages/index.cfm?pageid=118

D&B Government Serviceshttp://www.dnb.com/us/dnbgov/index.html 103 JFK ParkwayShort Hills, NJ 07078800-519-3111Customer service:custserv@dnb.com Government affairs:slobodiend@dnb.com

Defense

D&B Government Serviceshttp://www.dnb.com/us/dnbgov/index.html 103 JFK ParkwayShort Hills, NJ 07078800-519-3111Customer service:custserv@dnb.com Government affairs:slobodiend@dnb.com

Forecast Internationalhttp://www.forecastinternational.com/22/25 Commerce Rd.Newtown, CT 06470 203-426-0800Sales/customer service/marketing:sales@forecast1.com

IHShttp://www.ihs.com/15 Inverness Way EastEnglewood, CO 80112800-525-7052Sales information request page:http://solutions.ihs.com/products/standards/webquote/quoteprocurement.htm

Jane’s Information Grouphttp://www.janes.com/110 N. Royal Street, Suite 200Alexandria,VA 22314800-824 0768Customer service:customerservices.us@janes.com

PartsBasehttp://partsbase.com/Contact list:http://partsbase.com/contactus.asp

Education and Training

Career OneStophttp://www.careeronestop.orgContact list:http://www.careeronestop.org/usersupport/contact.asp

Human Performance Center SPIDERhttps://www.spider.hpc.navy.mil/

International Association for Continuing Education and Traininghttp://www.iacet.org/8405 Greensboro Drive, Suite 800McLean,VA 22102703-506-3275Contact list: http://www.iacet.org/contactus/staffmembers.htm

Electronics

CommerceNethttp://cit.stanford.edu/commercenet.html

Electronic Industries Alliance http://www.eia.org/2500 Wilson Blvd.Arlington,VA 22201703-907-7500

International Electrotechnical Commissionhttp://www.iec.ch/Contact list:http://www.iec.ch/helpline/contactus/contactus_entry.htm

IHShttp://www.ihs.com/15 Inverness Way EastEnglewood, CO 80112800-525-7052Sales information request page:http://solutions.ihs.com/products/standards/webquote/quoteprocurement.htm

Price Watchhttp://www.pricewatch.com/

Purchasing.comhttp://www.purchasing.com/Contact list:http://www.purchasing.com/info/28825.html?view=detail

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Energy

EnergyBulletinhttp://www.energybulletin.net/Contact form:http://www.energybulletin.net/emailform.php?email=editors

Energy Information Administrationhttp://www.eia.doe.gov/1000 Independence Ave. SWWashington, DC 20585202-586-8800InfoCtr@eia.doe.gov

Energy Starhttp://www.energystar.gov/

IHShttp://www.ihs.com/15 Inverness Way EastEnglewood, CO 80112800-525-7052

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Information request page:http://solutions.ihs.com/products/standards/webquote/quoteprocurement.htm

United States Energy Associationhttp://www.usea.org/1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NWWashington, DC 20004202-312-1230Contact link:http://www.usea.org/contactus.asp

World Energy Councilhttp://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/default.asp5th Floor Regency House,1–4 Warwick StreetLondon W1B 5LT, UK+44 20 7734 5996info@worldenergy.org

Engineering

American Society of Mechanical Engineerswww.asme.org

Engineering.comhttp://www.engineering.com/40 Village Centre PlaceMississauga, Ontario,Canada L4Z 1V9877-997-9917info@engineering.com

Engineering Informationhttp://www.ei.org/360 Park Avenue SouthNew York, NY 10010800-221-1044eicustomersupport@elsevier.com

ILI Infodisk, Inc.http://www.ili-info.com/610 Winters Ave.Paramus, NJ 07652201-986-1131Sales: sales@ili-info.com

Mechanical Engineering Magazine Onlinehttp://www.memagazine.org/Three Park AvenueNew York, NY 10016-5990800-48-ALGORmemag@asme.org

Military Engineering Data Asset Locator Systemhttps://www.dlis.dla.mil/medals/877-352-2255 DLIS-Support@dla.mil

TechExpohttp://www.techexpo.com/techexpo@techexpo.com

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/

5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Facilities Operation and Maintenance

Facilities Maintenance and Operations Committeehttp://www.nibs.org/fmoc.html1090 Vermont Avenue, NWSuite 700Washington, DC 20005-4905202-289-7800nibs@nibs.org

Federal Facilities Councilhttp://www7.nationalacademies.org/ffc/National Academy of Sciences500 Fifth Street, NWWashington, DC 20001Listserv subscription:http://www8.nationalacademies.org/mail_list/default.asp?list_id=361&action=subscribe

International Facility Management Associationhttp://www.ifma.org/index.cfm1 E. Greenway Plaza, Suite 1100Houston,TX 77046-0194713-623-4362webmaster@ifma.org

Finance and Economics

Consumer Price Index http://www.bls.gov/cpi/202-691-7000cpi_info@bls.gov

Council on Competitivenesshttp://www.compete.org1500 K Street NW, Suite 850Washington, DC 20005202-682-4292

D&B Government Serviceshttp://www.dnb.com/us/dnbgov/index.html 103 JFK ParkwayShort Hills, NJ 07078800-519-3111

Customer service:custserv@dnb.com Government affairs:slobodiend@dnb.com

Dialoghttp://www.dialog.com/11000 Regency Parkway Suite 10 Cary, NC 27518800-3-DIALOG

Information form:http://www.dialog.com/contacts/forms/member.shtml

Eagle Eyehttp://www.eagleeyeinc.com/10560 Main Street, PH-10Fairfax,VA 22030-7182703-359-8980info@eagleeyeinc.com

Inputhttp://www.input.com/corp/agencies/federal.cfm888-99-INPUTContact form: http://www.input.com/corp/forms/form.cfm?promoid=807&sourceid=12

Investor’s Business Dailyhttp://www.investors.com/800-831-2525Contact list:http://www.investors.com/contact/

LexisNexishttp://www.lexisnexis.com/1150 18th Street, NWSuite 275Washington, DC 20036800-253-4183Government solutions:advgovtsolutions@lexisnexis.com

Producer Price Indexhttp://www.bls.gov/ppi/202-691-7705ppi-info@bls.gov

STAT-USAhttp://www.stat-usa.gov/800-STAT-USAstatmail@esa.doc.gov

Sterling Commercehttp://www.sterlingcommerce.com800-299-4031 inquiry@stercomm.com

Wall Street Journalhttp://online.wsj.com/public/us800-369-2834onlinejournal@wsj.com

Foreign Military Sales

FedLoghttp://www.dlis.dla.mil/Fedlog/877-352-2255DLIS-Support@dla.mil

Hardware

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822

Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Health Care

ECRIhttp://www.ecri.org/5200 Butler PikePlymouth Meeting, PA 19462610-825-6000info@ecri.org

LexisNexishttp://www.lexisnexis.com/1150 18th Street, NW, Suite 275Washington, DC 20036800-253-4183Government solutions:advgovtsolutions@lexisnexis.com

Sterling Commercehttp://www.sterlingcommerce.com800-299-4031 inquiry@stercomm.com

TechExpohttp://www.techexpo.com/techexpo@techexpo.com

Industrial

Sterling Commercehttp://www.sterlingcommerce.com800-299-4031 inquiry@stercomm.com

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Information Technology

CommerceNethttp://cit.stanford.edu/commercenet.html

Electronic Industries Alliance http://www.eia.org/2500 Wilson Blvd.Arlington,VA 22201703-907-7500

FCWhttp://www.fcw.com/

Government Computer Newshttp://www.gcn.com/

Information Technology Services Marketing Associationhttp://www.itsma.com/Lexington Office Park 420 Bedford Street, Suite 110Lexington, MA 02420

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781-862-8500info@itsma.com

Inputhttp://www.input.com/corp/agencies/federal.cfm888-99-INPUTContact form: http://www.input.com/corp/forms/form.cfm?promoid=807&sourceid=12

ITEC Directhttp://www.itec-direct.navy.mil/

Price Watchhttp://www.pricewatch.com/

Wall Street Journalhttp://online.wsj.com/public/us800-369-2834onlinejournal@wsj.com

Washington Technologyhttp://www.washingtontechnology.com/

Instruments and Controls

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Interchangeability and Substitutability

FedLoghttp://www.dlis.dla.mil/Fedlog/877-352-2255DLIS-Support@dla.mil

International Markets

Forecast Internationalhttp://www.forecastinternational.com/22/25 Commerce Rd.Newtown, CT 06470 203-426-0800Sales/customer service/marketing:sales@forecast1.com

Law Enforcement

D&B Government Serviceshttp://www.dnb.com/us/dnbgov/index.html 103 JFK ParkwayShort Hills, NJ 07078800-519-3111Customer service:custserv@dnb.com Government affairs:slobodiend@dnb.com

Jane’s Information Grouphttp://www.janes.com/110 N. Royal Street, Suite 200Alexandria,VA 22314800-824 0768Customer service:customerservices.us@janes.com

LexisNexishttp://www.lexisnexis.com/1150 18th Street NW, Suite 275Washington, DC 20036800-253-4183Government solutions:advgovtsolutions@lexisnexis.com

Lease or Rental of Equipment

All Options Equipment Leasinghttp://equipment.alloptions.comLeads2Results, Inc.2101 NW Corporate BlvdSuite 208Boca Raton, FL 33431866-677-4580info@alloptions.com

Equipment Leasing and FinanceAssociationhttp://www.elaonline.org/Contact list: http://www.elaonline.org/aboutelfa/contact.cfm

Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundationhttp://www.leasefoundation.org/4301 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 550Arlington VA 22203-1627703-527-8655llevine@elamail.com

National Association of Equipment Leasing Brokershttp://www.naelb.org/304 W. Liberty Street, Suite 201Louisville, KY 40202800-996-2352info@naelb.org

Legal

American Bar Associationhttp://www.abanet.org/321 N. Clark St.Chicago, IL 60610800-285-2221Contact form: http://www.abanet.org/feedback.shtml

Dialoghttp://www.dialog.com/11000 Regency Parkway, Suite 10 Cary, NC 27518800-3-DIALOG Information form:http://www.dialog.com/contacts/forms/member.shtml

ILI Infodisk, Inc.http://www.ili-info.com/610 Winters Ave.Paramus, NJ 07652201-986-1131Sales: sales@ili-info.com

LexisNexishttp://www.lexisnexis.com/1150 18th Street NW, Suite 275Washington, DC 20036800-253-4183Government solutions:advgovtsolutions@lexisnexis.com

WestLawhttp://www.westlaw.com 800-937-8529west.support@thomson.com

Logistics

American Logistics Associationhttp://www.ala-national.org/1133 Fifteenth Street, Suite 640Washington, DC 20005202-466-2520Contact form: http://www.ala-national.org/contact/

FedLoghttp://www.dlis.dla.mil/Fedlog/877-352-2255DLIS-Support@dla.mil

Purchasing.comhttp://www.purchasing.com/Contact list:http://www.purchasing.com/info/28825.html?view=detail

Sterling Commercehttp://www.sterlingcommerce.com800-299-4031 inquiry@stercomm.com

Machinery

American Society of Mechanical Engineerswww.asme.org

National Tooling and Machining Associationhttps://www.ntma.org/eweb/StartPage.aspx9300 Livingston RoadFort Washington, MD 20744800-248-6862

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Maintenance, Repair, and Alteration of Real Property

Associated Builders and Contractorshttp://www.abc.org/4250 N. Fairfax Drive, 9th FloorArlington,VA 22203-1607703-812-2000gotquestions@abc.org

National Association of the Remodeling Industryhttp://www.nari.org/780 Lee St, Suite 200Des Plaines, IL 60016800-611-NARI (6274)info@nari.org

Manufacturing and Fabrication

Manufacturing.nethttp://www.manufacturing.net/comments@manufacturing.net

Society of Manufacturing Engineershttp://www.sme.org

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Marine

Forecast Internationalhttp://www.forecastinternational.com/22/25 Commerce Rd.Newtown, CT 06470 203-426-0800Sales/customer service/marketing:sales@forecast1.com

ILSmarthttp://www.ilsmart.com/901-794-5000Contact form: http://www.ilsmart.com/contact.asp

National Marine Electronics Associationhttp://www.nmea.org/7 Riggs Ave.Severna Park, MD 21146410-975-9425info@nmea.org

National Marine Manufacturers Associationhttp://www.nmma.org/200 E. Randolph Dr., Suite 5100Chicago, IL 60601312-946-6200

43

Contact list: http://www.nmma.org/corporate/contact/

Medical

American Medical Associationhttp://www.ama-assn.org/515 N. State StreetChicago, IL 60610800-621-8335Contact form: http://webapps.ama-assn.org/contactus/contactusMain.do;jsessionid=C6E7A774C394AD36FAB15CBBD6A2C523

SAMMS Procurement by Electronic Data Exchangehttps://dmmonline.dscp.dla.mil/pharm/spede.asp

World Medical Associationhttp://www.wma.net/e/13, ch. du Levant CIB, Bâtiment A01210 Ferney-Voltaire, France+33 4 50 40 75 75wma@wma.net

Metals and Materials

ASM International:The Materials Information Societyhttp://www.asminternational.org/9639 Kinsman RoadMaterials Park, OH 4073-0002800-336-5152CustomerService@asminternational.org

ILI Infodisk, Inc.http://www.ili-info.com/610 Winters Ave.Paramus, NJ 07652201-986-1131Sales: sales@ili-info.com

Purchasing.comhttp://www.purchasing.com/Contact list:http://www.purchasing.com/info/28825.html?view=detail

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

TMS Onlinehttp://www.tms.org/TMSHome.html184 Thorn Hill RoadWarrendale, PA 15086-7514800-759-4867Contact list:http://members.tms.org/Staff.asp

News

bizjournalshttp://www.bizjournals.com/

Business Weekhttp://www.businessweek.com/

Federal Computer Weekhttp://www.fcw.com/

Forbeshttp://www.forbes.com/

Government Computer Newshttp://www.gcn.com/

The National Academieshttp://www.nationalacademies.org/500 Fifth Street NWWashington, DC 20001Contact link:http://www.nationalacademies.org/cgi-bin/formfeed.cgi

Purchasing.comhttp://www.purchasing.com/Contact list:http://www.purchasing.com/info/28825.html?view=detail

Wall Street Journalhttp://online.wsj.com/public/us800-369-2834onlinejournal@wsj.com

Washington Technologyhttp://www.washingtontechnology.com/

Office Equipment

Better Buys for Businesshttp://www.betterbuys.com/800-247-2185info@betterbuys.com

Other Government Resources

Business.govwww.business.govContact link: http://www.business.gov/appmanager/bg/main/bg_page_contactUs_ftr

Grants.govhttp://www.grants.gov/800-518-4726support@grants.gov

Patent Electronic Business Centerhttp://www.uspto.gov/ebc/index.html800-786-9199ebc@uspto.gov

USA.govhttp://www.usa.gov/Office of Citizen Services and Communications, GSA1800 F Street, NW

Washington, DC 20405800-333-4636Contact link: http://answers.usa.gov/cgi-bin/gsa_ict.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

Parts Management

ASSIST Database for Military Specifications and Military Standardshttp://assist.daps.dla.mil/online/start/Document Automation and Production ServiceBuilding 4/D, 700 Robbins AvenuePhiladelphia, PA 19111-5094Contact list:http://assist.daps.dla.mil/feedback/

Government-Industry Data Exchange Programhttp://www.gidep.org/951-898-3207gidep@gidep.org

Federal Logistics Information Systemhttps://www.webflis.dlis.dla.mil/WEBFLIS/269-961-4698 or -4627webflis@dlis.dla.mil

PartsBasehttp://partsbase.com/Contact list:http://partsbase.com/contactus.asp

PartSolutionshttp://www.part-solutions.com/index_main.asp513-453-0453

Plastics and Rubber

Polysorthttp://www.polysort.com/4000 Embassy Parkway, Suite 400Akron, OH 44333800-326-8666Contact form:http://www.polysort.com/helpform.aspx

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Power Systems

Forecast Internationalhttp://www.forecastinternational.com/22/25 Commerce Rd.

Newtown, CT 06470 203-426-0800Sales/customer service/marketing:sales@forecast1.com

Power Systems Engineering Research Centerhttp://www.pserc.wisc.edu/Arizona State University577 Engineering Research Center,Box 878606Tempe,AZ 85287-8606480-965-1643pserc@asu.edu

Professional, Administrative, andManagement Support Services

Service and Support Professionals Associationhttp://www.thesspa.com/World Headquarters11031 Via Frontera, Suite A San Diego, CA 92127858-674-5491info@thesspa.com

Property Management

All Property Managementhttp://www.allpropertymanagement.com/PO Box 943Winthrop,WA 98862sales@allpropertymanagement.com

National Property Management Associationhttp://www.npma.org/28100 US Highway 19 North Suite 400Clearwater, FL 33761727-736-3788hq@npma.org

Publishing

Association of American Publishershttp://www.publishers.org/71 Fifth Avenue, 2nd Floor New York, NY 10003 212-255-0200

Bowkerhttp://www.bowker.com/630 Central Ave.New Providence, NJ 07974800-526-9537Product sales: http://www.bowker.com/contact/sales.htm

Online Publishers Associationhttp://www.online-publishers.org/249 West 17th StreetNew York, NY 10011212-204-1488

44

info@online-publishers.org

Pumps, Valves, and Accessories

ThomasNethttp://thomas.loc.gov/5 Penn PlazaNew York, NY 10001800-699-9822Registration form: http://www.thomasnet.com/mythomas/signup.html?navsec=header

Quality Control, Testing,and Inspection

American Society for Qualityhttp://www.asq.org/PO Box 3005Milwaukee,WI 53201-3005800-248-1946help@asq.org

Research and Development

New Product Scouthttp://www.newproductscout.com/217 Ninth St.Pittsburgh, PA 15222866-806-0476info@newproductscout.com

R&D Magazinehttp://www.rdmag.comContact form: http://www.rdmag.com/Feedback.aspx

Regulatory

Acquisition Centralhttp://www.acquisition.gov/Contact form: http://www.acquisition.gov/contact_us.cfm

D&B Government Serviceshttp://www.dnb.com/us/dnbgov/index.html 103 JFK ParkwayShort Hills, NJ 07078800-519-3111Customer service:custserv@dnb.com Government affairs:slobodiend@dnb.com

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programshttp://www.dol.gov/esa/ofccp/index.htmU.S. Department of LaborFrances Perkins Building200 Constitution Avenue NWWashington, DC 20210866-4-USA-DOLContact links:http://www.dol.gov/esa/contacts/ofccp/contact_of.htm

Thompsonhttp://www.thompson.com/public/800-677-3789

WestLawhttp://www.westlaw.com 800-937-8529west.support@thomson.com

Risk Management

D&B Government Serviceshttp://www.dnb.com/us/dnbgov/index.html 103 JFK ParkwayShort Hills, NJ 07078800-519-3111Customer service:custserv@dnb.com Government affairs:slobodiend@dnb.com

Factivahttp://www.factiva.com/business-information-service.html 800-369-0166 Sales request form: http://www.factiva.com/moreinfo/moreinfo.asp?node=menuElem1528&from=moreinfo_hp

Institute for Supply Management http://www.ism.ws/PO Box 22160Tempe,AZ 85285-2160800-888-6276 Customer service form:http://www.ism.ws/contact/CustomerService.cfm?navItemNumber=4914

Risk Management Associationhttp://www.rmahq.org/RMA/800-677-7621customers@rmahq.org

Salvage Services

American Salvage Associationhttp://www.americansalvage.org/801 North Quincy Street Suite 200Arlington,VA 22203703-373-2267rfredricks@vesselalliance.com

Salvage Industryhttp://www.salvageindustry.com/518 E. Industrial St.DeWitt, IA 52742563-210-2668info@salvageindustry.com

Science and Technology

AAAShttp://www.aaas.org/1200 New York Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20005202-326-6400webmaster@aaas.org

Defense Technical Information Centerhttp://www.dtic.mil/800-255-3842

Science and Technology Reviewhttp://www.llnl.gov/str/7000 East AvenueLivermore, CA 94550-9234925-423-3432str-mail@llnl.gov

SciTech Daily Reviewhttp://www.scitechdaily.com/editor@scitechdaily.com

Security/Public Safety

Jane’s Information Grouphttp://www.janes.com/110 N. Royal Street, Suite 200Alexandria,VA 22314800-824 0768Customer service:customerservices.us@janes.com

Software

CommerceNethttp://cit.stanford.edu/commercenet.html

PtS Holdingshttp://www.pts.com/Daresbury PointGreen Wood DriveManor ParkCheshire,WA7 1UPPhone: 01928 579700holdings@pts.com

Software and Information Industry Associationhttp://www.siia.net/1090 Vermont Ave NWWashington, DC 20005-4095202-289-7442Contact list:http://www.siia.net/contact/

Specifications and Standards

ASSIST Database for Military Specifications and Military Standardshttp://assist.daps.dla.mil/online/start/Document Automation and Production ServiceBuilding 4/D, 700 Robbins AvenuePhiladelphia, PA 19111-5094Contact list:http://assist.daps.dla.mil/feedback/

Defense Standardization ProgramDefense Logistics Agency, J-3078725 John J Kingman Rd Stop 6233Fort Belvoir,VA 22060-6221http://www.dsp.dla.mil/

Document Center Inc.111 Industrial RoadSuite 9Belmont, CA 94002650-591-7600http://www.document-center.com

ILI Infodisk, Inc.http://www.ili-info.com/610 Winters Ave.Paramus, NJ 07652201-986-1131Sales: sales@ili-info.com

IHS/Global15 Inverness Way EastEnglewood, CO 80112Research: 800-624-3974 ext. 1930Sales: 877-413-5184http://global.ihs.com

NSSNhttp://www.nssn.orgAdministered byAmerican National Standards Institutehttp://www.ansi.org/1819 L Street, NWWashington, DC 20036202-293-8020

Techstreet3916 Ranchero DriveAnn Arbor, MI 48108800-699-9277techstreet.service@thomson.com

World Standards Service Networkhttp://www.wssn.net

Supplier and Market Data

B2B Yellow Pageshttp://www.b2byellowpages.com/PO Box 409Syosset, NY 11791718-937-7091Contact list: http://www.b2byellowpages.com/contact.shtml

Best of the Webhttp://botw.org/Contact form: http://botw.org/helpcenter/contact.aspx

Big Yellowhttp://www.bigyellow.com/

BizWebhttp://www.bizweb.com/

Business.comhttp://www.business.com/

45

2120 Colorado Ave.Santa Monica, CA 90404310-586-4111http://www.business.com/info/feedback.asp

Clickithttp://www.clickit.com/clickit/index.html212-692-0704

Consumer Reportshttp://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm

Current Analysishttp://www.currentanalysis.com21335 Signal Hill Plaza, Suite 200Sterling,VA 20164877-787-8947clientservices@currentanalysis.com

Department of CommerceBureau of Economic Analysishttp://www.bea.gov/

Department of Defense eMallhttp://www.emall.dla.mil 877-352-2255 dod-emallsupport@dlis.dla.mil

Dialoghttp://www.dialog.com/11000 Regency Parkway, Suite 10 Cary, NC 27518800-3-DIALOG Information form:http://www.dialog.com/contacts/forms/member.shtml

Eagle Eyehttp://www.eagleeyeinc.com/10560 Main Street, PH-10Fairfax,VA 22030-7182703-359-8980info@eagleeyeinc.com

EDGARhttp://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/webusers.htm

Factivahttp://www.factiva.com/business-information-service.html 800-369-0166 Sales request form: http://www.factiva.com/moreinfo/moreinfo.asp?node=menuElem1528&from=moreinfo_hp

FedBizOppswww.fedbizopps.gov

First Researchhttp://www.firstresearch.com/4321 Lassiter at North Hills Ave.Suite 200 Raleigh, NC 27609

866-788-9389Contact form: http://www.firstresearch.com/contact.asp

Hoover’shttp://hoovers.com/free/Contact form: http://hoovers.com/business-information/pageid10122/global-corp-index.xhtml

ILSmarthttp://www.ilsmart.com/901-794-5000Contact form: http://www.ilsmart.com/contact.asp

Inputhttp://www.input.com/corp/agencies/federal.cfm888-99-INPUTContact form: http://www.input.com/corp/forms/form.cfm?promoid=807&sourceid=12

Investor’s Business Dailyhttp://www.investors.com/800-831-2525Contact list: http://www.investors.com/contact/

Jane’s Information Grouphttp://www.janes.com/110 N. Royal Street, Suite 200Alexandria,VA 22314800-824 0768Customer service:customerservices.us@janes.com

LexisNexishttp://www.lexisnexis.com/1150 18th Street, NW, Suite 275Washington, DC 20036800-253-4183Government solutions:advgovtsolutions@lexisnexis.com

Market Research.com http://www.marketresearch.com/11200 Rockville Pike, Suite 504Rockville, MD 20852800-298-5699 customerservice@marketresearch.com

Past Performance Information Retrieval Systemhttp://www.ppirs.gov/603-431-9460, ext. 486 webptsmh@navy.mil

ReportSurehttp://www.reportsure.com/5310 NW 33rd Ave., Suite 118Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309866-903-4515Contact list: http://www.reportsure.com/contact.aspx

Research and Marketshttp://www.researchandmarkets.com/

Small Business Administration http://www.sba.gov/800-827-5722answerdesk@sba.gov

Standard and Poorshttp://www.netadvantage.standardandpoors.com 800-523-4534

Sterling Commercehttp://www.sterlingcommerce.com800-299-4031 inquiry@stercomm.com

TechSavvyhttp://www.techsavvy.com/800-854-7179

U.S. Census Bureauhttp://www.census.gov/

Wall Street Journalhttp://online.wsj.com/public/us800-369-2834onlinejournal@wsj.com

World Business Website Directoryhttp://www.wowyellowpages.com/admin@wowyellowpages.com

Yellow Pages Local Directoryhttp://www.yellowpages.com/800-343-7390ypcsupport@yellowpages.com

Supply Management

Institute for Supply Management http://www.ism.ws/P.O. Box 22160Tempe,AZ 85285-2160800-888-6276 Customer service form:http://www.ism.ws/contact/CustomerService.cfm?navItemNumber=4914

Survey Management

FedLoghttp://www.dlis.dla.mil/Fedlog/877-352-2255DLIS-Support@dla.mil

Telecommunications

International Electrotechnical Commissionhttp://www.iec.ch/Contact list:http://www.iec.ch/helpline/contactus/contactus_entry.htm

Sterling Commercehttp://www.sterlingcommerce.com

800-299-4031 inquiry@stercomm.com

Telecommunications Industry Associationhttp://www.tiaonline.org/2500 Wilson Blvd, Suite 300Arlington,VA 22201703-907-7700Contact form:http://www.tiaonline.org/business/about/help/feedback.cfm

Telecommunications Industry Newshttp://www.teleclick.ca/

Transportation, Travel,and Relocation

European Relocation Associationhttp://www.eura-relocation.com/+44(0)8700 726 727enquiries@eura-relocation.com

Jane’s Information Grouphttp://www.janes.com/110 N. Royal Street, Suite 200Alexandria,VA 22314800-824 0768Customer service:customerservices.us@janes.com

National Business Travel Associationhttp://www.nbta.org/110 North Royal Street, 4th FloorAlexandria,VA 22314703-684-0836 info@nbta.org

Travel Industry Association of Americahttp://www.tia.org/index.html1100 New York Avenue, NWSuite 450Washington, DC 20005-3934202-408-8422feedback@tia.org

Travel Business Roundtablehttp://www.tbr.org/Contact list:http://www.tbr.org/contact.htm

Ventilation

Greenheck Computer Aided Product Selection Program http://www.greenheck.com/caps/PO Box 410Schofield,WI 54476715-359-6171Contact form: http://www.greenheck.com/contact/

46

47

Appendix C. Examples of Tact ica l Informat ion

This appendix contains examples of the types oftactical information you may need to collect.

General InformationRequirements definition

Product data sheets

Availability of product samples

Purchase descriptions used by other govern-ment agencies or in commercial transactions,including commercial specifications standardsand statements of work

Average time between model changes andpractice of providing continued parts invento-ries, upgrades, or production for phased-outmodels

Maturity of equipment design and criteria formeasuring degree of maturity

Plans for handling upgrades and obsolescence

Length of time the product has been producedor service provided

Product quality, reliability, and maintainabilityexperience of similar users

List of products and supplier services satisfyingidentical or similar service requirements

Cost drivers in the manufacture and use of theproduct

Applicable regulatory and de facto standards

ServicesHow services are segmented or packaged com-mercially

How services are provided (locally or off-site)

Factors used to evaluate service providers

Performance incentives

Contract type, length, terms, and conditions

Ownership and supply of needed equipmentand other related supplies

Qualifications of the people providing services

Past performance and quality of services pro-vided

Supplier CapabilityProduct distribution channels

Business practices in sales and distribution frommanufacturer to wholesaler, distributor, or re-tailer, to user

Production capacity to meet requirements aspart of commercial sales and the appropriatetime to buy

For some items, capability to meet surge re-quirements and mobilization demands

Packaging, handling, storage, and transportationpractices

Market Acceptance CriteriaAnnual sales

Anticipated future orders

Description of supplier’s quality controls, in-cluding extent of statistical process controls

Warranty terms and practices, and annual re-turns under warranty

Need for any preproduction or productionqualification testing and special quality assur-ance requirements

Product evaluation criteria (including life-cyclecriteria, if applicable)

SupportabilityAbility to support the item for the duration ofthe expected military use

Product quality, reliability, and maintainabilityexperience of similar users

Repair parts availability and lead-times, docu-mentation, pricing, and distribution systems

Customer service, installation, checkout, anduser operation and maintenance instructions

Requirements and provisions for manpowerand personnel

Competitive or sole-source repair and supportbase

Willingness to allow the government to acquirelicensing and subscription services to enable

competition for maintenance

For nondevelopmental items, perceived critical-ity of interfacing with other subsystems, soft-ware, etc., for overall system integrity

Training and training support requirements

Requirements for, and availability of, tools, testand diagnostic equipment, computer support resources, calibration procedures, and opera-tions and maintenance manuals

Commercial repair capabilities

Supplier calibration, repair, and overhaul prac-tices and capabilities documentation

Supplier commitment to outyear support

Degree of technical data package availability

Stability of current configuration and technol-ogy

Any needed special arrangements for mainte-nance according to the government’s condi-tions

Test DataHardware, software, and manpower interface is-sues, such as human factors and product safetyas experienced by similar users

Manufacturer test results

Certification or test results from independenttest organizations

ReferencesList of those currently using the product orservice

List of similar users currently using the productor service in the kinds of environments forwhich the researcher intends it to be used

Business DataDistribution practices

Minimum order quantities

Typical contract terms and conditions

Financing practices

48

General terms of past contracts

Significant differences between terms of pastcontracts and those recommended for the cur-rent acquisition

Problems encountered during past contractperformance

Pricing FactorsPrices paid for the supplies or service, andchanges in the supply, service, or market sincethen

Historical differences between prices paid bythe government and those paid by other buy-ers, and reasons for such

Whether additional suppliers are expected toenter the market

Relationship of the quantity the governmentintends to buy and the quantity that other enti-ties buy

Whether the planned volume will justify alower-than-market price as a result of the sell-er’s increased economies of scale

Whether the planned volume will be so largeas to drive the sellers to or beyond full capacity,resulting in unanticipated inflation

Whether the acquisition is for items that are atthe leading edge of market demand (marketdemand is increasing) or at the back end (de-mand for the item is dropping)

Whether demand will be higher or lower atthe time of award

Whether supply capacity is expected to keeppace with demand

Whether there is a cyclical pattern to supplyand demand for the supply or service

Whether awarding 6 months in the futurewould result in lower prices than an immediateaward (or if it would be better to stock up nowat today’s prices)

What forces (strikes, labor shortages, subcon-tractor bottlenecks, energy shortages, other rawmaterial shortages) might drive up prices in thenear future

What forces might lead the government to ex-pect lower prices in the future

Pricing strategies of firms in the market

Implications for expected prices

Availability of discounts for quantity buys

Which firms in the market are most likely tosubmit offers to a government solicitation

What features distinguish one service or itemof supply from another

Which commercial supplies or services matchmost closely the government requirementsdocument (as it currently reads in the purchaserequest)

Apparent tradeoff between features and price

Warranty procedures

Potential conflicts of interest (for services)

Historical information

Dates of past acquisitions for the supplies orservices

Prevailing market conditions at those times

Quantities solicited and acquired for past ac-quisitions

Number of sources solicited for past acquisi-tions

Names of specific sources solicited

Number and names of offerors for past acquisi-tions

Any significant differences between govern-ment requirements documents for prior con-tracts and those for the current requirements

Length of past delivery or performance period,in days, weeks, months, or years

Months during which the supplies were deliv-ered or the services performed

Whether the contractor met the delivery targets

Free-on-board point

Need for premium transportation to ensuretimely delivery

Costs of ownership associated with past acqui-sitions

Past acquisition methods employed

DEFENSE STANDARDIZATION PROGRAM OFFICE8725 John J. Kingman RoadFort Belvoir, VA 22060-6221

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